Ars Technica: Threat of Meta breakup looms as FTC’s monopoly trial ends. “As alleged by the FTC, Meta’s internal emails laid bare that Meta’s motive in acquiring both Instagram and WhatsApp was to pay whatever it took to snuff out dominant rivals threatening to lure users away from Facebook—Mark Zuckerberg’s jewel.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/05/31/ars-technica-threat-of-meta-breakup-looms-as-ftcs-monopoly-trial-ends/

»#Google and #DOJ tussle over how #AI will remake the #web in #antitrust closing arguments: Google and the DOJ get one last chance to make their cases.« https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/05/google-and-doj-tussle-over-how-ai-will-remake-the-web-in-antitrust-closing-arguments/?eicker.news #tech #media #news

Judges now hold the future of Google and Meta. Break them or let them rule?

Google and DOJ tussle over how AI will remake the web in antitrust closing arguments https://arstechni.ca/ymCr #antitrust #Google #google #search #Tech

"The nation's three largest airlines have begun charging some solo travelers higher fares than groups of two travelers or more.

It's not a widespread phenomenon – currently, we're only seeing it on a handful of one-way domestic flights. And it's unclear whether whether this began just recently or weeks, even months ago. Maybe airlines are testing this new pricing tactic out on a smaller scale before expanding.

We don't know. But we can say one thing for sure: Solo travelers – whether they're flying on a corporate account or not – will be the ones who pay the price."

https://thriftytraveler.com/news/airlines/airlines-charging-solo-travelers-higher-fares/

Todo o nada para Meta: el juez Boasberg decidirá si deben vender Instagram y WhatsApp tras 6 semanas de juicio antimonopolio. ¿Reescribirá la historia tech como con Microsoft en los 90? #Meta #WhatsApp #Instagram #Antitrust #FTC

"Google isn’t satisfied with its monopoly on the questions we search.

Google wants to use AI to monopolize the very answers themselves.

As one Google executive recently explained: “Organizing information is clearly a trillion-dollar opportunity, but a trillion dollars is not cool anymore. What’s cool is a quadrillion dollars.”

Google plans to use AI to consume and replace the open web.

I believe demolishing independent sites like mine was Google’s first step in clearing ground so it has space to rebuild search from the ground up for an “AI-first” future.

Google envisions a future where “Google does the Googling for you,” its AI and ads do the answering – and users never need to leave Google.

Google will just source information from a handful of sources and partner websites that it controls and selects – effectively creating an information cartel.

If Google can use AI to censor a travel website from the web arbitrarily and without opportunity for appeal – it can do the same to any source of information it wants.

And American citizens and Internet users everywhere will be worse off for it.

So while you may not really care about the plight of some random travel website getting censored, everyone should care about the way Google is deploying AI to build a censorship cartel that lets it control the flow of information online.

What follows is a lengthy summary of my experiences and my opinions as an independent publisher trying to survive in a monopolist’s information economy.

To start, let me explain how we got to this point where Google has the power to do this:"

https://travellemming.com/perspectives/ftc-letter-google-censors-indie-publishers-with-ai/

EU Orders Apple App Store Changes by June; €500M Fine Stands

#Apple #EU #DMA #AppStore #DigitalMarketsAct #TechRegulation #Antitrust #BigTech #ApplevsEU #AppStoreRules

https://winbuzzer.com/2025/05/28/eu-orders-apple-app-store-changes-by-june-e500m-fine-stands-xcxwbn/

#Google #Rumble #antitrust #legal

'A federal judge has dismissed conservative video platform Rumble's claims that Google violated antitrust law by allegedly promoting YouTube in the search results, and by installing YouTube on Android devices.

In a ruling issued last week, U.S. District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam, Jr. in the Northern District of California said Rumble's lawsuit, brought in January 2021, fell outside antitrust law's four-year statute of limitations.'

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/406168/

MediaPost: Google Defeats Rumble Antitrust Suit . “A federal judge has dismissed conservative video platform Rumble’s claims that Google violated antitrust law by allegedly promoting YouTube in the search results, and by installing YouTube on Android devices. In a ruling issued last week, U.S. District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam, Jr. in the Northern District of California said Rumble’s […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/05/28/mediapost-google-defeats-rumble-antitrust-suit/

Meta's Future Hinges on Judge's Antitrust Ruling Post-Trial, Instagram-WhatsApp Divestiture Looms

#Meta #FTC #Antitrust #SocialMedia #Instagram #WhatsApp #TechLaw #BigTech #Monopoly #Zuckerberg #MarketCompetition

https://winbuzzer.com/2025/05/27/metas-future-hinges-on-judges-antitrust-ruling-post-trial-instagram-whatsapp-divestiture-looms-xcxwbn/

#Ontario judge approves $500M settlement in Loblaw bread-fixing case https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/judge-approves-500-million-settlement-loblaw-bread-price-fixing-1.7543680?cmp=rss #Antitrust #Canada

https://www.europesays.com/uk/132646/ Germany’s power subsidy plans are probably illegal. That’s unlikely to matter. – POLITICO #Antitrust #Competition #Competitiveness #Crisis #Electricity #Energy #EU #EUCompetition #Europe #Germany #Industry #Investment #Negotiations #Opinion #RenewableEnergy #Romania #SingleMarket #StateAid #TeresaRibera

Judge Boasberg Denies Meta's Early Exit in FTC Monopoly Showdown

#Meta #FTC #Antitrust #SocialMedia #Instagram #WhatsApp #TechTrial #BigTech #Competition #MetaTrial #TechRegulation

https://winbuzzer.com/2025/05/23/judge-boasberg-denies-metas-early-exit-in-ftc-monopoly-showdown-xcxwbn/

Microsoft filed an amicus brief in support of Epic Games’ ongoing fight with Apple’s control over the App Store. The brief takes issue with Apple’s attempt to overturn the injunction that allows Epic and other developers to freely advertise alternative payment methods in their apps. Read more at @theverge. #Microsoft #Apple #Epic #AppStore #Antitrust #Tech #Technology https://flip.it/NFlhNi

Fortnite returns to the U.S. App Store after Epic Games wins a major legal battle against Apple over in-app payment restrictions. The court ruling marks a big step for developer freedom and fair competition.

#Fortnite #EpicGames #AppleLawsuit #AppStore #iOSGames #TechNews #Antitrust #DeveloperFreedom #TimSweeney #MobileGaming #TECHi

Read Full Article Here :- https://www.techi.com/fortnite-returns-to-apple-app-store/

"In the 1960s and 1970s, a group of Chicago School economists conceived of an absurd new way to interpret competition law, which they called "the consumer welfare standard." Under this standard, the job of competition policy was to encourage monopolies to form, on the grounds that monopolies were "efficient" and would lower prices for "consumers."

The chief proponent of this standard was Robert Bork, a virulent racist whose most significant claim to fame was that he was the only government lawyer willing to help Richard Nixon illegally fire officials who wouldn't turn a blind eye to his crimes. Bork's long record of unethical behavior and scorching bigotry came back to bite him in the ass when Ronald Reagan tried to seat him on the Supreme Court, during a confirmation hearing that Bork screwed up so badly that even today, we use "borked" as a synonym for anything that is utterly fucked.

But Bork's real legacy was as a pro-monopoly propagandist, whose work helped shift how judges, government enforcers, and economists viewed antitrust law. Bork approached the text of America's antitrust laws, like the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act, with the same techniques as a Qanon follower addressing a Q "drop," applying gnostic techniques to find in these laws mystical coded language that – he asserted – meant that Congress had intended for America's anti-monopoly laws to actually support monopolies.

In episode three, we explore Bork's legacy, and how it led to what Tom Eastman calls the internet of "five giant websites, each filled with screenshots of the other four." We got great interviews and old tape for this one, including Michael Wiesel, a Canadian soap-maker who created a bestselling line of nontoxic lip-balm kits for kids, only to have Amazon shaft him by underselling him with his own product."

https://pluralistic.net/2025/05/19/khan-thought/#they-were-warned

Engadget: Meta is trying to get its antitrust case thrown out in the middle of the trial. “The FTC just rested its case following weeks of testimony in a landmark antitrust case against Meta. But before Meta can begin its defense, the company’s lawyers have opted for another move: asking the judge to throw out the case entirely.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/05/18/engadget-meta-is-trying-to-get-its-antitrust-case-thrown-out-in-the-middle-of-the-trial/