UK Microsoft-Activision Decision Hurts Consumers

It’s hard to draw a roadmap to a place no one has ever been. Yet that’s what the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is trying to do in blocking Microsoft’s acquisition of game-maker Activision. The regulator forecasted that cloud computing is the future of gaming, that Microsoft and Activision will be significant providers of [...]

Meta’s Expanded User Controls Are a (Cautious) Positive Step

Rumor is that Meta will allow users greater control over their Facebook Feed, which is the first thing a user sees when he or she logs into Facebook. More specifically, users will be able to “increase or diminish the presence of spam, sensitive, or ‘fact-checked’ content.” This is a step in the right direction, but [...]

States Should Avoid Heavy-Handed Approaches to Big Tech

Red states like Florida are fast becoming magnets for people with entrepreneurial drive and a desire to be free of heavy government regulations. In 2021, Florida added 2,715 new information technology (tech) businesses—more than any other state. Texas added 10,851 tech jobs in 2021, more than double California’s gain. Florida led the nation in net [...]

The Department of Justice’s Case Against Google Seems out of Step with Congress

Regulatory Washington has an appetite for irony, contradiction, and paradox. This is on full display as the Department of Justice (DOJ) seeks to grow online advertising while Congress takes up laws to counteract those efforts. The DOJ has joined several states in filing yet another antitrust case against Google. The new one is about online [...]

Biden’s Attack on Tech and Competition

President Joe Biden wants to have your online cake and eat it too. His 2023 State of the Union address included numerous announcements of controls on industries and types of citizens. Each deserves to be critiqued, because a government-run economy becomes a failed economy. But I will limit my comments here to his plans for [...]