Washington — Several groups have launched a six figure ad campaign to put political pressure on the FTC to break up Facebook. These groups, however, fail to identify the competition harm that such an action would remedy, putting the cart before the horse.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association has supported antitrust investigations and remedies for the tech industry when warranted for consumers for the past 45 years. The following can be attributed to CCIA President & CEO Ed Black:
“The call to break up this highly competitive company is misguided political fervor that ignores the economic facts, lacks evidence of competitive harm, and proposes an extreme resolution that would harm consumers and reduce innovation. Technology is the most dynamic sector of our economy. Radical demands to break up leading tech services that provide consumers great value in the form of extensive, free, and secure online services are not just ill-advised, but dangerous.
“In a time when the importance of the rule of law is much debated, demands to break up companies which may capitalize on populist fears without evidence of consumer harm encourages the idea that the FTC can be swayed by politics, rather than the law and proveable harm to consumer welfare. While this campaign offers a simplistic conclusion, or remedy, it does little to explain how consumers are being harmed and what exactly the FTC should investigate.”
“FTC professionals take their role protecting consumers seriously. We hope commissioners will properly respond to consumer discontent by reviewing industries and companies where they receive substantive consumer complaints, and where evidence of consumer harm is abundant — rather than yielding to the political pressure of the moment.”