Big Tech Not Anticompetitive, But May Require Careful Regulation

March 8, 2021 – Lawmakers should not rush to paint big technology companies as monopolists and should carefully analyze what is worth regulating, according to commentators speaking at a Thursday Law and Economics Center webinar.

The fallacious notion that big tech companies don’t have much competition stems from the perception about how society interacts online, and which may by dictated by a small number of these corporations.

But Adam White, executive director at the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, said different tech companies are focusing on completely different parts of the human and social experience, thus making it harder to categorize these companies as anticompetitive monopolists.

The debate comes as lawmakers propose reforms to the Section 230 internet liability provision, which currently insulates social media platforms from lawsuits stemming from what their users post.

Genevieve Lakier, assistant professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School, said big tech shouldn’t have to raise competition alarms to be regulated.

Rather, lawmakers should look to how these companies influence behavior, with targeted ads and the push to show people what the technology companies think people would like.