Publication Date
Spring 5-2023
Major
Government: Politics and Policy
Keywords
Antitrust, technology, market power, digital platforms, big tech, antitrust law, Sherman Antitrust Act, monopoly, monopoly power, competition, economics, competition law, China, misinformation, Schumpeterian, exclusionary conduct, mergers, acquisitions, startup, amend, FTC, Federal Trade Commission, DOJ, Department of Justice
Disciplines
Antitrust and Trade Regulation | Technology and Innovation
Recommended Citation
Ramsey, Jordan, "Antitrust for Dominant Digital Platforms: An Alternative to the Monopoly Power Standard to Restore Competition" (2023). Senior Honors Theses. 1328.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/honors/1328
Abstract
Antitrust law is meant to promote competition by prohibiting anticompetitive business practices such as mergers and acquisitions as well as exclusionary conduct. Judicial interpretation of antitrust law has allowed dominant digital platforms to undertake anticompetitive actions without prosecution. The Sherman Antitrust Act should be amended to remove the monopoly power standard that allows firms to engage in anticompetitive conduct as long as the conduct does not create or uphold monopoly power. The amendment would make anticompetitive conduct illegal regardless of monopoly power, as long as six proof requirements are met. This would result in lessened market concentration, which would benefit technological innovation and the economy, American technological leadership, and the free flow of information.
