The DOJ’s new enforcement chief is signaling an aggressive approach to competition in digital markets. Compliance expert Michael Volkov warns that big-tech mergers, moat-building and favoritism/discrimination are about to endure closer ongoing inspection.
A new traffic cop is presiding over the global economy. This is not a surprise. Aggressive antitrust enforcement is now bipartisan, and the first target — digital markets — has become the focus of both Democrats and Republicans.
This article is republished here with permission from the author, Michael Volkov. It originally appeared on his blog Corruption, Crime & Compliance.
Jonathan Kanter, the new assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s antitrust division, gave an important speech at an international meeting in Brussels outlining the theoretical underpinning of the need for robust antitrust enforcement to bring competition to various digital markets.
Kanter focused on the rise of monopoly power over digital markets. He analogized the state of digital markets to historical concerns that monopoly power over a market was inconsistent with our form of government. Market-based economies give citizens choice and opportunity as part of our fundamental freedoms.
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