It’s no secret that the US government wants to rein in Big Tech.
Turns out, err’thing will be under greater scrutiny.
On Friday, President Biden signed a wide-ranging executive order (EO) “promoting competition to lower prices” and hoping to spur wage increases across all parts of the economy, per CNN.
According to The New York Times, the executive order encourages federal agencies — such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) — to pursue broad antitrust action.
Those agencies are actually independent from the administration but have signaled support of the EO.
… including support for:
The previous administration also issued “competition-focused” EOs, but to limited effect, per NYT (having said that, the FTC has already opened an investigation into Amazon’s purchase of MGM).
For max impact, the Biden administration will have to craft new laws in cooperation with Congress.
“The heart of American capitalism is a simple idea: open and fair competition,” Biden said at the EO’s signing. “Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism; it’s exploitation.”