la liberté avant tout
For the last five weeks, an agency of the Federal government has attempted to convince a judge that Meta should be forcibly broken up for parts. FTC v. Meta is nearing closing statements and could be decided in the weeks to come. Social media influencers, small businesses advertisers, and roaming bands of phone scrollers have their…
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…
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…
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…
Last week, American tech company Meta announced in a blog post it will postpone the launch of its Meta AI product to European users. The company had hoped to offer the same product now available in other countries, integrating a personal assistant into the various suite of Meta apps, but that plan will be on hold until legal matters are…
Last week, a bespeckled white-haired Frenchman strolled the streets of San Francisco in between high-profile meetings and uncomfortable photo ops. With his horn-rimmed round glasses, wavy hair, and tailored suit, as well as a full entourage of slickly-dressed Europeans, the European Union Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, made his rounds in Silicon Valley….
In a courtroom in San Joe, California today, the US government squared off against a social media company and grilled that company’s CEO about its investments in another technology company, and its general business strategy for the new field of wearable virtual reality. The app in question, the fitness VR app Within, is poised to…
What does it say about us when we turn to comedians to inform our thinking on politics? We’ve witnessed the rise of Ukrainian comedian-turned-wartime-President Volodymyr Zelensky. Former Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales was a comedian, too, but was dogged by very unfunny allegations of corruption. Comedian Dave Smith will likely seek the 2024 Libertarian Party presidential nomination, having led the “Mises…