Acting Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter said Thursday that breaking up Big Tech companies such as Facebook may be the best solution to the anti-competitive problem they create, her most aggressive stance yet on the issue.
“In many cases, unscrambling a consolidated company may be much easier than imposing behavioral conditions,” Slaughter, a Democrat, said Thursday at an event hosted by Germany’s competition agency.
LEADING BIG TECH CRITIC JOINS BIDEN WHITE HOUSE, SIGNALING CONFRONTATIONAL APPROACH
She added that breaking up companies is a more “conservative” solution than imposing more regulation. “It is cleaner and clearer and less heavy-handed of government,” she said. Republicans have historically favored free market policies and fewer regulations.
Antitrust enforcement is meant to protect consumers from anti-competitive mergers and business practices. The trade commission and the Justice Department are responsible for antitrust enforcement primarily through investigations, lawsuits, penalties, and fines.
The trade commission is expected to feature more aggressive antitrust enforcement with regard to Big Tech because the agency was already trending toward greater scrutiny of corporate concentration in the Trump years, and it is now set to receive bipartisan support for funding and resources.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Slaughter said she supports bills in Congress aimed at changing antitrust laws to force Big Tech platforms to separate portions of their businesses. However, she warned that the trade commission did not need legislation passed in Congress in order to take certain actions.
“That’s not something we as enforcers are going to wait to have happen,” she said on Thursday.
