US: “Big is not bad” for tech companies says Delrahim

According to a report on Thursday by Bloomberg, Makan Delrahim, Assistant Attorney General (AAG) for the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, outlined some of the obstacles the government faces in bringing antitrust cases against big technology companies.

“Just because somebody is big does not mean they have violated the laws. Nor should we condemn them because they have succeeded,” Delrahim said at the Fordham Conference in New York. Delrahim was responding to a question from an audience member who asked about targeting Amazon as a monopoly and breaking up the online retailer.

“Is any of their conduct in any way limiting the ability of that upstart to challenge their market position in that market where they’re dominating?” Delrahim said. “Big is not bad but behaving badly is bad.”

In his remarks Thursday, Delrahim also spoke of what he has achieved in his first year as AAG.
“In my year as AAG, we have undertaken several initiatives aimed at reinventing our policies for the better. For example, the Division convened a series of public roundtables at which participants from all sides weighed in on issues of regulatory reform, including the issue of anticompetitive regulations. We have also embarked on a project to terminate over one thousand outdated consent decrees, which have for years remained on our court’s dockets, and in some cases, even created anticompetitive market conditions.”

Full Content: Department of Justice