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open markets institute
Paramount-Skydance Deal Subverts Free Speech and the Free Press in America
The purpose of antimonopoly regulation is to establish a rule of law to protect individual liberty and the distributions of power on which democracy depends, not extort favors from desperate corporations
Jul 25, 2025
Open Markets Institute Executive Director Barry Lynn released the following statement on the Federal Communications Commission’s 2-1 vote to approve Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount:
“Skydance and Paramount’s self-censorship and pay-off of the Trump Administration, in pursuit of government approval of an unwise merger, is worthy of condemnation. But it’s important to view Paramount’s action within two broader contexts.
First, it marks but the latest in a long series of attacks by this administration on free speech and the free press in America, including unprecedented attacks on universities, newspapers, and even the oligarchs who control America’s communications platforms. The purpose of antimonopoly regulation is to establish a rule of law to protect individual liberty and the distributions of power on which democracy depends, not extort favors from desperate corporations.
Second, it’s important to remember how CBS and so many other news and entertainment companies came to this point. Today’s assaults on free speech and the free press are the direct result of the fantastically naïve pro-monopoly policies put in place under presidents Reagan and Clinton. It was Google and Facebook, after all, that for 15 years starved American newspapers and broadcasters of the ad dollars on which they always depended, and directly suppressed the ability of readers and viewers to connect with the reporters and publishers of their choice.
CBS and Paramount have been in deep trouble for years now. Many leading liberals helped create that crisis.
One immediate lesson stands out. Democracies around the world must beware. As the Trump administration tries to use tariffs and trade policy to loosen regulation of tech monopolists, theoretically in the name of free speech, remember always that their goal is the exact opposite.”
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Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s Time Is Up
May 23, 2024
Open Markets Institute Legal Director Sandeep Vaheesan released the following statement on the Department of Justice and state attorneys general suing to break up the entertainment and ticketing monopoly, Live Nation-Ticketmaster (formally “Live Nation Entertainment”).
“The antitrust lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice and 30 state attorneys general strikes a critical blow on behalf of the American public against Live Nation’s suffocating monopoly over live music. Through a series of acquisitions and coercive tactics, Live Nation has unfairly dominated the promotion, hosting, and ticketing of concerts for years to the great detriment of artists, fans, and independent businesses. Critically, rather than attempt to remedy this monopoly through surgical fixes, the government wisely seeks to terminate Live Nation’s control of the industry through a breakup of this behemoth.”
In July 2020, the Open Markets Institute led a coalition that petitioned the Federal Trade Commission to ban exclusive dealing by dominant firms—a practice used by many monopolists, including Live Nation and Google, to unfairly maintain market control.
In January 2023, Open Markets Senior Legal Analyst Daniel Hanley wrote an article in The Sling explaining this monopoly problem and recommending a set of solutions, including breaking up the monopoly as well as implementing a new rule banning monopolistic and unfair uses of exclusive arrangements, like those employed by Live Nation-Ticketmaster.
This February, Open Markets applauded the Justice Department’s investigation into LNE and condemned the conglomerate’s refusal to fully cooperate with antitrust enforcers.
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The Justice Department & 16 State AGs Sue Apple in Order to Improve the Internet Economy for Businesses & Consumers
Mar 21, 2024
In an landmark lawsuit today, the Department of Justice announced it is suing Apple for a wide range of unfair competition practices and its monopoly over smartphone markets and applications.
Open Markets Executive Director Barry Lynn responded with the following statement:
“The Justice Department and 16 state attorneys general have once again shown up for America’s consumers and independent businesses, and the protection of our personal liberties and democratic rights, by taking on one of the world’s largest corporations.
“For more than a decade, Apple has engaged in unfair competition designed to entrench its monopoly control in the smartphone market and in multiple closely related marketplaces such as wireless apps. By deploying a complex suite of intertwined practices that collectively restrict the availability of alternative services, Apple stifled the development of rival businesses, reduced consumer choice, imposed higher prices for consumers and developers, and piled up vast wealth for a tiny collection of people. In recent years, Apple has also increasingly engaged in conduct designed to restrict access to essential communications and entertainment markets in ways that further only its own private interests.
“Today’s groundbreaking lawsuit seeks to fully pry open Apple’s restrictive practices so that fair competition can thrive in ways that deliver the public real choice and opportunity, and improve the quality of both hardware and software products.”
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Europe May Move to Break Up Google’s AdTech Monopoly
Jun 14, 2023
Open Markets Institute Europe released the following statement on the European Commission’s announcement that it may move to require Google to divest parts of its online advertising business:
“Open Markets commends the European Commission for its intention to break up Google’s online advertising monopoly. The evidence is overwhelming that Google has used its dominance across the adtech supply chain to favor its own platforms, at the expense of publishers, advertisers, adtech rivals and consumers. The only way to address this egregious conflict of interest is to force Google to divest part of its business, as the U.S. Department of Justice and now the European Commission have acknowledged.
“After years of trying to unsuccessfully rein in Big Tech – especially Google – through ineffective fines and behavioural remedies, we welcome the Commission’s newfound willingness to use structural measures to tackle the platforms’ dominance. Today’s announcement is also a clear illustration of the power competition authorities have when they work in parallel, with the U.S. DOJ and the UK’s CMA also investigating Google’s adtech monopoly.”
“This isn’t just about economics – Google’s monopoly over online advertising poses a fundamental threat to the health of our free media and ultimately, the resilience and integrity of our democracies. The bullying tactics deployed by Google and Facebook in Australia, Canada, California and other jurisdictions when asked to pay for valuable news content are clear evidence of this threat. Regulators around the world must move quickly to rein in these unaccountable giants and rebuild a truly open digital economy.
Open Markets Executive Director Barry Lynn has called the DOJ suit against Google over its monopolization of digital advertising, “one of the most important antitrust cases in American history.”
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