Apr.07.2021
On March 18, the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law held its third investigative hearing this year, entitled, “Reviving Competition, Part 3: Strengthening the Laws to Address Monopoly Power.” The hearing underscored increasing calls from some lawmakers, law enforcers, and judges to rethink the nation’s recent approach to competition law and policy in favor of more extensive government intervention.
The hearing follows two prior hearings, the first on February 25, concerning the effect of barriers to entry and the conduct of “gatekeepers” on tech industry competition, and the second on March 12, addressing dominant firms’ effect on journalism and the free press. These hearings follow a 16-month bi-partisan investigation into the state of competition in digital markets, including whether dominant firms engaged in anticompetitive conduct and whether legislative reforms are necessary to address these issues. That investigation cu