The head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division is vowing to speed up the time it takes to review proposed mergers.
“[M]ergers increasingly take longer to review and clear. Many think that is a problem. I do too,” Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim said in a speech Tuesday at Georgetown University.
Delrahim called the reviews “unduly lengthy” and said the Justice Department will aim to “resolve most investigations” within six months after companies submit merger paperwork. If some companies want a longer investigation, Delrahim said that would be fine.
“If the goal of the business community is a shorter review, however, we share that goal and are committed to working towards it,” he said.
Delrahim pointed out that in 2017, significant merger reviews conducted by the federal government took an average of nearly 11 months to resolve — a 65 percent increase from 2013.
“We are committed to accelerating the pace of merger review consistent with enforcing the law because we believe that doing so is good for American consumers and taxpayers,” Delrahim said.
One of the immediate fixes was withdrawing policy guidance from under the Obama administration. That 2011 guidance dictated what “remedies” the federal government would accept to address concerns that the merger would harm competition.
Also on Tuesday, Delrahim attended a meeting with 14 offices of state attorneys general to discuss consumer protection as they use technology. Other top Justice Department officials were there, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Jesse Panuccio, and Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore.
According to a summary provided by the Justice Department, the discussion “centered on ways the department and state governments can most effectively safeguard consumers using online digital platforms.”
“The discussion principally focused on consumer protection and data privacy issues, and the bipartisan group of attendees sought to identify areas of consensus. Many shared the view that it is essential for federal and state law enforcement authorities to work together to ensure that these challenges are addressed responsibly and effectively,” the summary said.
The meeting came after President Trump tweeted about alleged bias at tech giants such as Google and Facebook, and tech executives traveled to Capitol Hill to discuss lawmakers’ concerns.
Top Republicans have also suggested that the companies are biased against them and their content following a story that claimed Twitter was “shadow-banning” some conservative voices.
