Yaël Ossowski

ftc

  • The FTC’s shell game on social media ‘monopolies’

    In Washington, D.C. this week, government lawyers wrapped up their antitrust lawsuit arguing that Instagram should be broken off from its parent company. The same for WhatsApp. The company Meta, formerly Facebook, has been in a long protracted legal battle over its decade-old acquisitions of the photo sharing app Instagram and messaging app WhatsApp. While those acquisitions…

  • FTC v. Meta Is All About Politics, Not Antitrust Law

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    Meta had its first day in court against the Federal Trade Commission in what will be the second-largest antitrust trial of the decade. At stake is Meta’s ownership of both Instagram and WhatsApp, and the viability of Mark Zuckerberg’s company as traditional social media enters the era of AI. Say what you will about the political influence…

  • FTC wants Instagram and WhatsApp spun off Meta, testing Trump’s pro-tech posture | Yaël on SchwabTV

    Consumer Choice Center Deputy Director Yaël Ossowski offers a wider perspective around Meta Platforms’ (META) antitrust trial launched by the FTC. He considers it the first test for the Trump administration to set the tone on what antitrust means in the U.S. and the message it sends abroad. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said there’s plenty of…

  • Lina Khan’s Partisan Pivot Should Be the Beginning of Her End

    Democratic candidates are crisscrossing the country to garner support before November’s elections. Joining campaign events alongside the likes of Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi will be an unlikely star and supposedly independent federal employee, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan.  Khan is due to travel to Austin, Chicago, and Arizona…

  • The FTC should throw out its ‘junk fees’ rule and start over 

    Everything feels more expensive right now, and that’s because it is. Despite a notable decline from its peak of 9.1 percent in June 2022, inflation remains higher than the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target.  Since January 2021, prices have surged by an astonishing 17.6 percent. Grocery prices today are 21 percent higher than in January 2021, and while gas prices…

  • Schwab TV: FTC and DOJ succumb to “Tall Poppy Syndrome” on tech and antitrust

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    On 360 Round with anchor Nicole Petallides on Schwab Network, I discussed recent antitrust actions by the FTC and the DOJ, and how this is harmful not only to American innovation, but also to the choices and well-being of consumers.

  • Misinformed Jon Stewart Applauds FTC Chair Lina Khan

    It’s not often that the head of a U.S. federal agency is given the red carpet treatment on Comedy Central, but for Jon Stewart, it’s to be expected. Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), appeared on the revamped Daily Show featuring Stewart as host on Monday nights, to hype up the FTC’s work battling…

  • Kibbe on Liberty: Congress Is Using Kids to Impose Online Censorship

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    While I was in Washington, D.C., I spoke to freedom maximalist and “Don’t Hurt People and Don’t Take Their Stuff” author Matt Kibbe about online privacy and the Internet, the Kids Online Safety Act, Bitcoin and its enemies, central bank digital currencies, and the weaponization of the FTC. It was published on the Kibbe On…

  • The FTC’s cheering of a failed merger shows its disdain for consumers

    Since when do government agencies applaud business deals that fall apart, resulting in hundreds of layoffs and loss opportunities for consumers who depend on those products? That’s what happened earlier this month, when the Federal Trade Commission issued a press release applauding the failed $1.7 billion acquisition of the technology firm iRobot by the ecommerce…

  • Consumers are skeptical about FTC’s efforts to break up Amazon Prime

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    On Scripps News Tonight, Consumer Choice Center Deputy Director @yaeloss (Yaël Ossowski) sifts through the latest #antitrust lawsuit and why consumers remain skeptical about the Federal Trade Commission’s attempt to break up Amazon Prime membership What will happen to 2-day shipping? Cheap prices? Data storage and streaming? Who’s being harmed? Broadcast: September 26, 2023