The FTC’s proposed merger filing changes will cost billions for combining parties and won’t benefit consumers, telecom and tech associations told the agency in comments filed by due date Wednesday. Progressive lawmakers countered that lax antitrust rules have contributed to mass consolidation and harmed consumers. The FTC and DOJ requested comments in June on proposed changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger notification process.
Karl Herchenroeder
Karl Herchenroeder, Associate Editor, is a technology policy journalist for publications including Communications Daily. Born in Rockville, Maryland, he joined the Warren Communications News staff in 2018. He began his journalism career in 2012 at the Aspen Times in Aspen, Colorado, where he covered city government. After that, he covered the nuclear industry for ExchangeMonitor in Washington. You can follow Herchenroeder on Twitter: @karlherk
The FTC is watching closely to see if tech companies are unfairly or deceptively using AI technology, Chair Lina Khan said Wednesday.
The Senate Commerce Committee plans to vote on the three FTC nominees in October (see 2309200070), Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Thursday. Members expect to move them as a bipartisan package, ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told us separately.
The FTC was right to redact an opinion from a former Republican commissioner over Chair Lina Khan’s decision not to recuse herself in an in-house challenge of Meta’s buy of Within Unlimited (see 2304180077), Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter said Wednesday.
FTC and DOJ leadership are approaching their antitrust merger guideline review (see 2309180059) with an “open mind,” FTC Economics Bureau Director Aviv Nevo said Tuesday, acknowledging some are “unhappy” with the process. Consumer advocates and industry representatives offered stark opinions about the draft document.
The FTC and DOJ need to update their merger guidelines to avoid future anticompetitive effects like those from T-Mobile/Sprint (see 2002110026) and to prevent further consolidation in already concentrated markets, antitrust advocates told the agencies in comments closed Monday (see 2309050088). Biden administration opponents accused the agencies of trying to rewrite antitrust law through an ideologically driven guideline revision.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said Thursday that they have the ears of Republican leadership on AI efforts, despite Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., becoming the latest to criticize Schumer’s Wednesday forum on AI regulation (see 2309130061).
The government needs to regulate AI to ensure companies are operating safely and in the “interest of the general public,” Tech billionaire Elon Musk told reporters Wednesday.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., agreed with Microsoft President Brad Smith Tuesday on the need for a federal agency to license high-risk AI systems.
The Senate Intelligence Committee plans a hearing on AI policies, potentially to address election security issues, Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., told us Wednesday. Election security and public markets are areas that require “immediate urgency,” Warner said. “There’s a group of us thinking about some of those items.” Ranking member Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told us he wants to examine what the technology means for national security, defense and cybersecurity.