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Lee Hepner Profile picture
Lee Hepner
@LeeHepner
anti-monopoly law and policy at @econliberties. post a lot about corporate abuse and the scam economy.
Jun 23 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
The FTC just approved a blatantly anticompetitive $13.5 billion advertising merger on the condition that they advertise on conservative websites. No joke.

This FTC has no shame. Partisan central planning hackery. Image
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Image Shot/chaser. The FTC just did the bidding of Elon Musk and Linda Yaccarino. This is the opposite of law enforcement. It’s market rigging. Image
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Apr 4 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
A complaint filed this week in an Illinois federal court alleges that construction equipment rental firms - widely used for residential construction - have engaged for 15 years in a widespread cartel to limit capacity and drive up construction costs.

This is a huge scandal. 🧵 Image The US already has the most concentrated construction equipment rental industry in the world.

Enter the Rouse Cartel, which expressly sought to “discipline” price competition by coordinating among a majority of the industry’s competitors to restrict capacity and hike rates. Image
Jan 25 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Maybe I'm overly sensitive bc of my line of work, but why does *every single part* of this economy feel like an obstacle course? Booking a flight, seeing a doctor, getting insurance, finding housing, taking your animal to the vet... Are people just numb to all this? This half century delegation to private markets to codify basic norms has been a failed experiment on every level, but particularly at the consumer level where evangelists try most vigorously to justify it. Every transaction is a boobytrap. It's a total scam economy.
Dec 17, 2024 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
NEW: The White House just released a report that estimates pricing algorithms like those at issue in cases against RealPage and Yardi cost renters an average of $70/month.

“In total, we estimate the cost to renters in 2023 was $3.8 billion.”

Full report:
whitehouse.gov/cea/written-ma…Image The average cost to renters is proportionate to the market penetration of rent-setting algorithms, but even low market penetration is associated with increased rents. Image
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Nov 21, 2024 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
After a week of rumors, it's official: The Justice Dept is demanding Google "promptly" sell-off Chrome. That's the baseline to cure Google's search monopoly.

Here's the big kicker: If Google fails to comply, or if competition is not restored, Android must be sold off, too. / Image The conditional approach to an Android divestiture is going to get a lot of attention. Here's how the Justice Dept slow walks it, citing United Shoe (1953):

If behavioral remedies are ineffective at restoring "workable competition," the court can fall back on full divestiture. Image
Oct 9, 2024 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Boom. The Justice Department is seeking "structural remedies," e.g., potential breakup of Google, including Android, Chrome, and the Play Store.

But that's not all. It's a sweeping framework to match the sweeping effect of Google's monopoly. 🧵 Image Google's monopoly has allowed it to accumulate massive stores of data, the primary driver of its search engine quality and a huge advantage in nascent AI markets.

Here, DOJ seeks divestiture or compulsory license of Google's web index, data, ranking signals, and AI models. Image
Sep 9, 2024 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
US v Google Ad Tech is off to a heated start.

Julia Tarver Wood for DOJ argues that Google controlled (1) the competition, by acquiring its competitors, (2) the customers, by locking publishers and marketers into its network, and (3) the rules, by rigging the game. Karen Dunn on opening argument for Google argues that Google's success is "what the antitrust laws were designed to protect" and warns against "government intervention" in the market.

An eerie soliloquy as Dunn darts out of court to prep Harris for tomorrow's Presidential debate
Aug 26, 2024 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
The mega-merger of Kroger and Albertsons would put 41 retail grocery brands, 5,000 grocery stores, 4,000 pharmacies and 700,000 employees under one roof.

Today the @FTC is arguing in federal court to block it. Here's why that's good for consumers and working people. Image As a result of decades of consolidation, Kroger and Albertsons are now the #1 and #2 supermarket chains in the United States.

There's much talk lately of "price gouging" at the grocery store. This consolidation, under the banner of "efficiency," is a contributor to that problem.
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Aug 5, 2024 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Big update in US v. Google Ad Tech: Google has once again been caught destroying evidence relevant to the major antitrust litigation.

Pursuant to the "Walker Memo," Google systematically moved sensitive chats to "history-off" mode which auto-deleted evidence within 24hrs. Image Destroying relevant evidence is a major red flag & comes with severe consequences.

In the Google Play Store case, Judge Donato called it "a frontal assault on the fair administration of justice."

An adverse instruction in that case led to a unanimous finding of liability. Image
May 31, 2024 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
In Atlanta, where Cortland Mgmt is based, rents have increased **56%** since 2016, when algorithmic price fixing tools took hold.

Supply and demand do not explain inflated rental prices. Rental housing cartels do, and @JusticeATR is cracking down on these criminal conspiracies. When vacancy rates increase, rents should decrease. Look at how pre-2016 Atlanta rents had a corresponding negative correlation with increased vacancies, as one would expect, and how that changed right about the time property managers began using RealPage. Image
Aug 9, 2023 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
I have lots of friends who visit San Francisco from all over the place. You know the ONE thing they all comment on? Not open air drug markets, not feeling unsafe, not downtown vacancies... Those are actual serious concerns, but no. It's driverless cars. Driverless cars are probably the weirdest thing about SF right now.

Even crazier is how a totally unaccountable body like @californiapuc is about to write a blank check for 1000s more of them on our streets.
Jul 11, 2023 • 14 tweets • 6 min read
Judge Corley, a Biden appointee, has just ruled against the FTC's bid to enjoin Microsoft-Activision, the largest tech merger in history.

The Opinion is laced with inexplicable disdain for the FTC, and replete with legal and factual errors. The FTC should appeal. 🧵 Let's start with market definition, where Corley defers to the FTC's product market, including that Switch is not a Gen 9 console.

This is correct - there was a "plethora of internal industry documents" supporting it - so it's a wonder why Corley insists on plugging her nose.
Dec 20, 2022 • 34 tweets • 7 min read
Good morning from San Jose. The FTC just called Mark Zuckerberg to the stand. This is the final day of hearings in the FTC's effort to enjoin Meta's acquisition of VR app-maker Within.

I'll be posting updates as we go. FTC counsel Abby Dennis: “All of the company’s products now share a new vision: to bring the Metaverse to life. Correct?”

Zuckerberg: “Sure. That’s part of what they do."
Dec 19, 2022 • 23 tweets • 5 min read
In FTC v Meta/Within, we've seen Meta's dysfunction up-close. Exh A: the public, mid-trial resignation of John Carmack.

Meta, one of the world's most iconic & valuable companies, has abandoned innovation. That's bad for consumers & why the FTC's case matters.

Updates below.🧵 We're hearing first from Meta's Andrew Bosworth. He's ostensibly here to make the case that Meta would not be able to make a fitness app in-house.

Email from Z to B: "I’m bullish on fitness. A partnership with Peloton for Beat Saber sounds awesome! I’d love to see that happen."
Dec 17, 2022 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
Whoa. Meta's senior advisor on VR, former CTO of Oculus, just posted a public resignation from Meta - just 3 days after his bombshell testimony in @FTC v Meta/Within.

"An org that has only known inefficiency is ill prepared for the inevitable competition." 👀 I've half-speculated there might be some shakeups at Meta based on the testimony we've heard at this trial, where several senior employees have aired their laundry.

I did NOT expect one of the most influential ppl in VR to post a public resignation *in the middle of the trial.*
Dec 16, 2022 • 21 tweets • 6 min read
Trial resumes today in FTC v Meta-Within. I'll post relevant bits as we go.

I had an opportunity to chat w @BarbaraOrtutay @AP about why this case matters. These early attempts to squash competition have become the norm across industries.apnews.com/article/techno… ImageImage Kicking off with Mark Rabkin, VP of VR in Meta Reality Labs. Rabkin learned to code at his local community college and is now "building a new technology, a new computing platform."

(Evergreen reminder: ALWAYS support funding for your local community college!!!)
Dec 14, 2022 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
We’re back in San Jose for FTC v Meta Within. Let’s go. ImageImage One of the ways the FTC can prove that "VR dedicated fitness apps" is the appropriate product market for assessing the competitive effects of this acquisition is how Meta itself views the category.

We're hearing from Dorrie Paynter, Meta's Senior UX Researcher on Oculus.
Dec 13, 2022 • 31 tweets • 7 min read
Hearings are resuming in FTC's case to enjoin Meta's acquisition of VR app company Within, maker of popular fitness app Supernatural.

I talked to @NaomiNixWrites @washingtonpost about why this case matters. I'll be issuing relevant updates here today. washingtonpost.com/technology/202… Image We're hearing testimony this morning from the FTC's expert economist @HalSinger. Among the evidence we'll hear today:

- Meta had the ability to enter the VR fitness app "de novo", or absent the acquisition
- Even the *possibility* of entry had positive competitive effects.
Dec 12, 2022 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
As the FTC v Meta/Within case proceeds, I want to debunk a key part of Meta's defense, which they've hammering in court:

Meta needs to persuade the Court that there is ample competition in VR. But in reality, Meta dominates every single aspect, incl hardware, app store & apps. Image Let's start with the hardware (the headset itself). Since acquiring Oculus for $2B, Meta produces the Quest 2. In court, Meta has been using a graphic that shows "competing" headsets by HTC, iQIYI & Valve.

The problem? Meta controls an astounding *90%* of the headset market. ImageImage
Dec 9, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Day 2 of FTC v Meta/Within. My Day 1 updates below.

Potential competition was front & center yesterday: would Meta have entered the VR fitness market but for their acquisition of Within? FTC making a strong case that Meta was uniquely resourced, positioned & intent on doing so. Chris Pruett on the stand talking about third party apps and Quest Store curation policy. Pruett testifying that 99% of apps made by independent app developers - not Meta.

BUT, we've also heard testimony that 3 of the Top 5 Quest Store apps are Meta-owned. Meta's apps dominate.
Dec 8, 2022 • 20 tweets • 4 min read
In San Jose for FTC's challenge to Meta's acquisition of Within. A big deal for reasons that reach beyond competition/concentration in the VR fitness space.

The room is packed with a newly-upgraded HVAC system. Judge Davila presiding. Let's go. @econliberties FTC lead counsel Abigail Dennis laying out the case, challenging the acquisition on 2 key legal theories: actual and perceived potential competition.

Actual = Meta would have entered but for the acquisition.

Perceived = Meta had an effect on the market as a *potential* entrant.