Myth vs Fact
Myth
Antitrust Law is outdated and unsuited to the modern day.
Fact
Antitrust law is timeless in its purpose and dynamic in adapting to modern circumstances.
Fact
By putting the welfare of consumers first and by constantly evolving through real-world application in the courts, antitrust law remains relevant and in touch with today.
Myth
Antitrust law is only about minimizing prices and maximizing output.
Fact
Antitrust law is about putting the welfare of consumers first, not minimizing or maximizing numbers on a spreadsheet. To do so, antitrust law has evolved over the more than four decades since the adoption of…
Fact
…the Consumer Welfare Standard by the U.S. Supreme Court to consider factors such as innovation, variety, quality, and of course prices and output among other considerations.
Myth
Antitrust law is the solution to the problem of online censorship.
Fact
The problem of online censorship, which has had a chilling effect on healthy political discourse and resulted in the persecution of ordinary conservatives, is not a result of how large or how wealthy a corporation is…
Fact
…but rather other factors such as outdated laws like Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which was created in the 1990s at the dawn of the internet age. ‘Breaking up Big Tech’ would do nothing to address the root of the problem.
Myth
Antitrust is supposed to prevent monopolies, but is failing to do so.
Fact
Modern economics and contemporary courts overwhelmingly agree that neither monopolies nor oligopolies are bad merely by virtue of being monopolies or oligopolies. Consider a startup that invents a new product or service…
Fact
…and therefore instantly becomes a monopoly in that market, or consider an industry such as utilities where the cost of building and maintaining infrastructure means that having only a handful of competitors is actually more efficient, cheaper, and better for consumers. That is why antitrust law is instead about putting consumers first.
Myth
Current antitrust law is outdated and unsuited to the modern day.
Fact
The Consumer Welfare Standard, which serves as the cornerstone of antitrust law, is timeless in its purpose of putting the welfare of consumers first. Furthermore, as consumer-centric antitrust law is…
Fact
…applied to an ever-changing economy and society, it too evolves to remain in touch with the modern day while delivering on the purpose of the Consumer Welfare Standard at the end of the day.
Myth
Antitrust law is supposed to ensure fairness, but is failing to do so.
Fact
Antitrust law is not about ensuring ‘equity’ (woke terminology for ‘equality of outcomes’) but rather about putting the welfare of consumers first. If antitrust law is ever…
Fact
…misused to arbitrarily force equal market share among competitors in an industry or weaponized to advance a woke agenda, it would be at the expense of consumers.