53 points
*

You just let Microsoft buy Activision. You’re not going to do shit about this either.

permalink
report
reply
65 points
*

The FTC fully opposed it and is still opposing it as of Dec 6th. The FTC sued twice to stop the deal, and is currently appealing the merger a judge approved.

They are opposing it so much it is drawing scrutiny on the extremely aggressively antitrust chair Biden appointed, Lina Khan, a person who literally wrote a lauded economics paper about how amazon became a monopoly using anticompetitive practices and illegal tactics.

Get pissed at the government if you like, but at least get your facts straight first.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-18 points

“The FTC withdrew its request after courts did not find their anti-trust compelling to block the merger”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquisition_of_Activision_Blizzard_by_Microsoft

permalink
report
parent
reply
38 points
*

My article is from 3 days ago. When was your source in Wikipedia from?

EDIT: From your own source

The FTC formally withdrew its challenge to the acquisition on July 20, 2023, though they have announced their intent to refile at a later time.[78] The FTC reopened its case against the merger on September 27, 2023, though was unable to block the merger from occurring.[79]

So they withdrew their challenge in July and stated they would refile. They did refile in September, and are currently appealing a decision to allow the merger by a judge as of Dec 6th.

The FTC has been actively fighting this merger every step of the way and has yet to stop.

permalink
report
parent
reply
26 points

The FTC tried & failed. They’ll most likely fail here too. It’s tough for courts to rule against what the FTC sees as unfair competition when even the judges are likely Amazon Prime & Big 3 ecosystem subscribers.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

I’m not a lawyer or legal expert but my layman’s understanding is the laws on antitrust are a 100 years old. Most of these companies skirt them “technically”. There is thing about proving consumer harm and some of these, in the short term, are arguable better for consumers. Likewise proving an actual monopoly with old time definitions is hard because in a lot of cases there is technically competition.

Let me end by saying, I think it’s horse she and they are plenty anti competitive practices out there, but the FTC is fighting with a hand tied behind their back with the laws in place.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

I can’t imagine any law that would preclude the status quo, as Microsoft doesn’t own a controlling stake in OpenAI anyway. It sounds like the FTC is picking its targets based on market cap only.

permalink
report
parent
reply
22 points

And literally nothing will happen.

Monopolies own the govt, they do what they want

permalink
report
reply
4 points

Fuck happened to the amazon investigation? FTC is all about news headlines and that’s it.

permalink
report
reply
19 points

What happened is that the FTC is taking on Amazon in court as we speak:

FTC Sues Amazon for Illegally Maintaining Monopoly Power

permalink
report
parent
reply
-2 points

Their lead investigator will surely sniff this one out!

/I’m going to hell!

permalink
report
reply
-3 points

The FTC is pro-trust not antitrust.

permalink
report
reply
13 points
*

Appointing Lina Khan to head the FTC is one of the only good things Biden has done while in office.

However, the FTC has been defanged and neutered by the courts and Congress. To say nothing of the full court press the media, especially mainstream business publications, have engaged in to attack her and limit her influence and reduce her political capital.

So unlike most of Biden’s top level appointments, I actually don’t doubt her intentions, or her goals, but I also don’t hold out much hope as to what she’ll be able to accomplish, though not for any lack of effort on her part.

permalink
report
parent
reply

Technology

!technology@lemmy.world

Create post

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


Community stats

  • 17K

    Monthly active users

  • 12K

    Posts

  • 555K

    Comments