ANTITRUST

Economics

Antitrust practices and market power:

Technology, social networking sites, and anti-competitive behavior

Q1.Why was/were the firm(s) investigated for antitrust behavior?

IBM, AT&T, Microsoft, Intel, Google, Twitter, and Facebook are all technology companies that have been accused of operating as de facto and de jure monopolies: in other words, of engaging in blatant violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act or of substantially limiting market competition to such a degree that a monopoly has been created and consumer choice has been limited in a negative fashion. "From an antitrust standpoint, monopoly power is the power to raise price or exclude competition. Monopoly power is not unlawful in its own right, but unless a firm is deemed to have monopoly power (or at least a dangerous probability of acquiring such power), it cannot be held liable for monopolization or attempted monopolization" and having a negative impact upon consumers (Waller 2012: 1775)....
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