The Biden administration has pursued a more aggressive antitrust approach than its predecessor, filing numerous lawsuits seeking to break up large companies and block mergers, with mixed success.

Since the president took office in January 2021, the administration's antitrust actions through the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or the Department of Justice (DOJ) have been aggressive, targeting not only technology companies such as Google and Microsoft; Airlines and e-commerce businesses are also targeted. . Some conservatives argue that the crackdown will improve competition and consumer outcomes, while others argue that the measure will impede legitimate business operations, reduce business viability and hurt the consumer experience. Some people do. (Related: 'Can't last forever': Federal debt more than doubles last quarter's economy)

“The recent antitrust actions certainly seem to be a shift away from some of the long-standing assumptions based on consumer welfare standards that we've seen in the past,” said technology policy researcher Jennifer Huddleston. Cato Institute told DCNF. “Ideally, consumer welfare standards should be the driving force, and we should consider how a transaction should affect consumers rather than how it might affect competitors. You should really consider this. We certainly see this in the technology space with creative definition of markets.”

The consumer welfare standard is a legal principle that antitrust law should focus on promoting the welfare of consumers, rather than on the impact on competitors or competition in general.

Most recently, Amazon's proposed acquisition of iRobot was scrapped on Monday, citing regulatory hurdles set by the FTC and European regulators, leading to iRobot laying off 31% of its workforce.

In January, a federal judge blocked JetBlue Airways' proposed $3.8 billion takeover of Spirit Airlines in response to an antitrust lawsuit from the Justice Department. The acquisition would have created the fifth-largest U.S. airline out of six and seven, and would have increased competition from other airlines. famous airline.The aviation industry is maturing approved While mergers over the past two decades have allowed leading competitors such as United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and American Airlines to grow to their current size, spiritual consolidation has been hampered and Competitiveness with airlines is under threat.

The Justice Department said in its lawsuit that despite positioning itself to consumers as an ultra-low-cost carrier, as opposed to other airlines such as American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, Spirit has no market presence. It claimed to have broader influence in the United States and to drive down prices across the board. Offer more amenities and higher prices. Following a federal judge's order blocking the acquisition, Spirit is reportedly considering refinancing options to deal with $1.1 billion in debt, which would hinder future operations if JetBlue does not take on the deal. There is a fear.

Critics of the administration's efforts argue that the administration is pursuing aggressive antitrust measures without considering the positive benefits to consumers from the merger.

“The Biden administration's government-wide attack on American businesses is stifling efficiency and innovation,” Jessica Melzin, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Center for Innovation, told DCNF. “In the past, the FTC has recognized that mergers often have procompetitive effects that also benefit consumers, but the current agency leadership's extreme antitrust policies are less concerned with ideology than with consumer welfare. It goes far beyond what the Trump administration has done in terms of prioritizing the

Supporters of the Biden administration's antitrust efforts have pointed to the monopoly control that big tech companies have over the information they distribute to consumers, with companies like Google allowing users to While you can control what people see through search engines, you can also control most of your information. Internet search. Big Tech, particularly social media sites such as Twitter, have also been criticized for censoring users, with some arguing that these sites should be treated as public forums rather than private bulletin boards.

“Free markets require functioning markets,” Mike Davis, founder and president of the advocacy group Internet Accountability Project, told DCNF. “This means enforcing century-old antitrust laws targeting anticompetitive actors. The multi-trillion dollar Big Tech monopolies are too powerful for information and commerce. Holding multitrillion-dollar Big Tech monopolies like Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook accountable will require more than an extremely expensive David vs. Goliath antitrust lawsuit. ”

The Justice Department under the Trump administration, reinforced by Biden regulators, took aim at Google, claiming that the company dominates the search and advertising markets and controls about 90% of internet searches. Google argues that despite its broad market control, consumers prefer its search engine and that antitrust enforcement would hamper the consumer experience.

“The only thing the Biden administration is doing right is bipartisan antitrust enforcement,” Davis told DCNF. “At the same time, we cannot let the federal government control American industry. Section 230 and antitrust amnesty currently protect these Big Tech giants. Big tech billionaires profit while corporations suffer. We need more bipartisan antitrust legislation to prevent Big Tech from taking over every aspect of American life.”

In a less high-profile case, the FTC has targeted drug companies as President Joe Biden pushes to lower drug prices. In one such case that occurred in December, F.T.C. Amgen has entered into a deal with Horizon Therapeutics over its proposed acquisition that places limits on which drugs and treatments it can and cannot bundle.

“The FTC is on a winning streak, with several court victories in just a few weeks,” an FTC spokesperson told DCNF. “All of these wins directly benefit consumers, leading to lower healthcare and prescription drug costs for patients.”

Breaking news: Spirit Airlines, $SAVEfell 60% after a judge blocked its merger with JetBlue.

The reason for the block is due to antitrust concerns.

Sprint Airlines' market capitalization just hit an all-time low of just $600 million.

Currently, the inventory has been suspended twice. pic.twitter.com/kXuDioNPBD

— Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) January 16, 2024

Huddleston told DCNF that the FTC is “particularly interested in coming up with creative market definitions that don't accurately match what consumers experience and don't reflect the relevant market.” I've seen it,” he said. “The good news is that so far we have primarily seen courts reject more subjective types of definitions and definitions that depart from consumer welfare standards. .”

The FTC filed a lawsuit against Microsoft in January 2022 to block tech giant Activision's proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of video game company Activision on the grounds that Microsoft would own too much stock in the gaming industry. I asked. A federal judge dismissed the claims in July 2023, saying the acquisition was unlikely to burden consumers.

The FTC and 17 state attorneys general sued Amazon in September, alleging that the company exhibits a pattern of illegal conduct that amounts to a monopoly. In its lawsuit, the FTC says it targets Amazon not because of its size, but because of a number of alleged anticompetitive tactics, including requiring sellers to charge a certain price in order to properly market themselves. He claimed that.

“One [consequence] We won't see until later what kind of chilling effect a more aggressive approach, a more vetted approach to various acquisitions, has had on consumers and small businesses,” Huddleston told DCNF. Ta. “Increased regulatory scrutiny may make companies more reluctant to enter into certain transactions, so consumers may not reap the benefits they would have received from some of these mergers and acquisitions. Is it?”

The Department of Justice did not respond to requests for comment from DCNF.

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