Article written by Haim Ravia and Dotan Hammer
U.S. President Joe Biden signed a comprehensive executive order on promoting competition in the American economy. The order aims to implement a policy of decentralization and prevention of monopoly in the market in a manner that will benefit American workers, farmers, small businesses, startups, and consumers.
The order seeks to prevent the exploitation of market power by dominant companies who try to minimize competition. The order adopts the previously repealed network neutrality rules, which will require network access providers to handle all network traffic equally, and prohibit actions such as limiting the internet bandwidth.
The order specifically addresses the need to face challenges posed by new industries and technologies, such as the information technology market dominated by a small number of internet platforms. According to the order, this dominance leads to increased dependence of small businesses on the giant platforms, which further strengthens their power. It also leads to the exclusion of small competitors from the market. The order recommends that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) should consider exercising its authority in overseeing the unfair competition and unfair data collection and monitoring practices that may harm competition or consumers’ autonomy and privacy.
The order also established the White House Competition Council. Its role is to coordinate and advance Federal efforts to address overconcentration, monopolization, and unfair competition. The White House Competition Council is also tasked with recommending any administrative and legislative changes that may help to implement the order’s policy.
Click HERE to read the Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy.
