Max von Thun
@maxvonthun
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Europe & Transatlantic Director @openmarkets . Tech, antitrust, industrial policy and geopolitics. Former @LibDems adviser and @CfEntrepreneurs .
Brussels, Belgium
Joined February 2014
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Pinned Tweet
Today
@openmarkets
and
@mozilla
launch a major report on AI & competition policy, authored by
@danielahanley
and me.
In "Stopping Big Tech from Becoming Big AI" we lay out a series of detailed, practical measures to check rising market concentration and keep AI open for all 🧵
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A striking and very welcome mea culpa from Nobel prize-winning economist Angus Deaton - in the IMF of all places - on how economics lost its way by ignoring corporate power, downplaying ethics, stigmatising unions and fetishising efficiency.
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The chaos at OpenAI is the perfect illustration of why the EU’s AI Act needs to impose strict regulatory responsibilities on foundation model providers, instead of relying on goodwill from companies whose leadership and governance structures can be blown up at any moment.
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George Orwell reviewing Hayek’s Road to Serfdom in 1944:
“The trouble with competitions is that somebody wins them. Professor Hayek denies that free capitalism necessarily leads to monopoly, but in practice that is where it has led.”
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Skype didn’t “lose” anything. It was bought by Microsoft in a 2011 killer acquisition and left to rot after Teams was launched. By the time the pandemic came around, it was in no state to compete.
Remember when Skype had a 15-year lead on video conferencing and then completely lost the market during a global pandemic + remote work boom?
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A reality check for those who thought that Sunak signalled the Tories’ shift back to the “centre” – whatever that actually means.
There’s an air of unreality at
#cpc23
in Manchester. But it’s part of a longer story-the slow radicalisation of the Tory Party. The seeds are being sown for that process to complete in opposition, with Truss & Farage at its centre. My latest for NS.
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That a simple tweet about tech regulation could unleash such fury from the blue tick mob speaks volumes. This isn’t really about OpenAI or the AI Act - it’s about who gets to decide how technology impacts society: democratically-elected governments or unaccountable corporations.
The chaos at OpenAI is the perfect illustration of why the EU’s AI Act needs to impose strict regulatory responsibilities on foundation model providers, instead of relying on goodwill from companies whose leadership and governance structures can be blown up at any moment.
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The Brussels effect, DMA edition.
Following similar moves in the US and EU, Japan and South Korea are among the countries introducing rules to rein in the dominance of Apple and Google
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So despite complaints that regulation is holding back 'innovation' in the EU, Europeans had to wait just two months longer for Bard, and in return get a version giving them more oversight and control over how their data is used. Sounds like a good trade-off to me.
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While Google Search has never truly been the neutral index of useful information it pretends to be, its infusion with AI removes the pretence entirely. Google will be able to promote or suppress any website or business as it pleases, with zero transparency or accountability.
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Yet another "companies responsible for technology that does bad thing, promise to stop said technology from being used for bad thing" announcement.
Self-regulation by Big Tech has failed miserably in the past, and it isn't going to work with AI either.
BREAKING: Executives from Google, Meta and other tech giants sign a new voluntary pact for how they'll respond to AI-generated deepfakes that deliberately trick voters.
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Great piece on how Google became a bloated behemoth - and replaced innovation with monopolistic conduct.
“It becomes easier to acquire companies…than to build products from scratch, and to ink exclusivity deals in order to to keep competitors at bay.”
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Whether or not payments for content are the right way to support the media, Meta's ability to unilaterally change how millions of people receive news, simply because of a law they dislike, is the perfect illustration of why monopoly power is ultimately a threat to democracy.
Meta said that it plans to follow through with a threat to block Canadians from sharing news on its platforms, after the federal government passed a law requiring digital firms to pay domestic media organizations for their content.
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Yet another independent startup sucked into Big Tech's gravitational field - this time French AI darling Mistral. Until we create alternative pathways for startups to access computing power and commercialise their products, this will keep happening.
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Apparently extracting monopoly rents from locked-in consumers and businesses, while stifling innovation in your walled-off garden, is now considered pro-consumer and pro-capitalist.
Antitrust now means going after companies making best-in-class products that consumers think are great.
Ignoring consumer welfare makes it possible to misuse antitrust – for rent-seeking by competitors, or for attacks on corporations motivated by anti-capitalism.
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The most surprising thing about this list is the decision to exempt Gmail and Outlook from designation, despite both meeting the DMA's thresholds. Their sheer ubiquity surely gives Google/Microsoft plenty of opportunities to self-preference their own services and ecosystems...
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Lots of good stuff in the
@CMAgovUK
's latest report on competition in AI, especially this graphic illustrating how the tech giants have wrapped their tentacles around practically every single meaningful independent competitor out there.
A couple of other thoughts (1/4).
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This is a brilliant essay by
@mariafarrell
and
@robinberjon
on how digital diversity has been replaced by a rigid and brittle tech monoculture, and the lessons we can draw from ecology in building a truly open, diverse and resilient digital commons.
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These crude "but how will we compete with China" arguments are becoming a depressingly common way for big firms, European or American, to pick away at regulation.
Competing against China abroad should not mean
a deregulatory free-for-all at home.
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What the headlines miss is that Microsoft isn't just hiring Inflection's CEO, but most of its top employees too. In other words, it's gutting one of its few potential competitors and forcing it to pivot to a non-threatening line of business.
Microsoft hires DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman to run new consumer AI unit
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Amazon has just been fined €32 million in France for violating the GDPR through sweeping worker surveillance, including invasive performance tracking and illegitimate filming & data collection. A good example of how market power undermines fair working conditions
@danielahanley
ℹ️🔴 La CNIL sanctionne AMAZON FRANCE LOGISTIQUE d’une amende de 32 millions d’euros notamment pour avoir mis en place un système de
#surveillance
de l’activité et des performances des salariés excessivement intrusif 👉
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Apple has decided to revoke Epic’s ability to launch an alternative App Store on iOS in the EU, because its CEO dared to criticise Apple’s bad-faith attempt at DMA compliance. About as clear a demonstration of untrammelled gatekeeper power as you can get.
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I've signed this excellent letter calling for EU legislators to resist lobbying to exempt foundation models from the AI Act, given their systemic role in the AI supply chain. Tech "self-regulation" has failed miserably in the past, and it won't work this time either.
To defend the first actual regulation on AI,
We published with major figures (
@MarietjeSchaake
,
@GaryMarcus
, Bengio) and organizations (Avaaz, CDT) an open letter in
@Euractiv
supporting the Spanish tiered approach for the AI Act.
Why?
1) Risk management needs to be done
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Today,
@openmarkets
and 13 other leading European civil society organisations publish a manifesto calling on the next European Commission to put tackling monopoly power at the heart of its economic agenda.
Read it here:
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This is a fascinating, data-rich study by
@CeciliaRikap
@Cmmonwealth
on Big Tech's efforts to steer the direction of AI, delving into their partnerships with startups, leveraging of market power in the cloud, and capture of large swathes of academia.
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The AI Act is a major achievement, but it won't take full effect until 2026. The EU doesn't need to wait – using its powers under competition law and the DMA, it can take action now to challenge Big Tech's growing stranglehold over AI.
Me in
@Euractiv
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I’m quoted in
@AP
on the European Commission’s huge Google announcement today, and why transatlantic cooperation in tackling tech monopolies finally looks to be a thing.
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My latest in
@techpolicypress
on why monopoly power needs to be at the heart of the debate on AI regulation.
We've seen the dire consequences when key technologies become monopolised, and with AI we've still got the chance to do something about it.
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Apple's DMA "compliance" plan is terrible. That's no surprise - stifling enforcement through appeals & sham compliance is more lucrative than making changes that actually threaten its monopolistic business model. But Brussels can change that calculus with the threat of sanctions.
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You don't become a tech hub by letting dominant, multibillion dollar companies buy each other up. You do it investing in R&D and education, being open to foreign talent, and making it easy to start and grow a business.
Corporate self-interest masquerading as economic policy.
The CMA’s report today is a major setback for the UK’s ambitions to be a tech hub, and we will work with Microsoft to reverse it on appeal.
This report is also a disservice to UK citizens, who face increasingly dire economic prospects, and we will need to reassess our growth
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This would never have happened without intense antitrust scrutiny from
@Ofcom
@CMAgovUK
@EU_Competition
@FTC
and others. Egress fees are a major impediment to competition in the cloud, so this is good news. But as the smallest of the Big 3 providers, Google has the least to lose.
Google is ending fees to move data from its cloud to rival services, putting pressure on Amazon and Microsoft to do the same
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Superb piece (as usual) by
@ambaonadventure
@sarahbmyers
on how tech giants are capturing public investment in AI, not only in financial terms but also – more importantly – in terms of how such investment is conceptualised in the first place.
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AI won’t be safe until we rein in Big Tech - new piece from
@GRiekeles
and me in the
@guardian
on corporate capture of the AI debate, and the need for aggressive competition enforcement & strict regulatory responsibilities targeted at the largest players.
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Inflection AI, which just lost its CEO and most of its staff to Microsoft despite raising over $1 billion less than a year ago, is now desperate to offload computing power as it dramatically lowers its ambitions.
Hard to see this is as anything other than a killer acquisition.
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I spoke to
@jacobin
@harrstetler
for this excellent deep-dive on Europe's profound dependence on U.S. tech giants, which Mistral's partnership with Microsoft is just the latest example of. Until we fix that, all talk of "tech sovereignty" is just hot air.
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This article in the latest
@TheEconomist
argues that the EU no longer needs to worry about Big Tech, and can put away its antitrust toolbox. While misguided and often inaccurate, it makes claims that are increasingly common and need to be unpicked 🧵
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If confirmed this would – incredibly – be the first time the Commission has blocked an acquisition by a Big Tech giant. Following the Booking/eTraveli prohibition in September, it looks like EU merger control is finally awakening from its long slumber.
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Encouraging to see the EU move fast to investigate gatekeepers for DMA non-compliance. The DMA will only produce results if the EU is ready to use sticks as well as carrots to get the tech giants to comply. Otherwise, the companies will just drag out the process ad infinitum.
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At a time when Google and Apple are facing serious antitrust scrutiny for stitching up the search market through exclusive deals and financial kickbacks, the last thing we should be doing is letting history repeat itself with generative AI.
EXCLUSIVE: Apple is in talks to build Google’s Gemini AI engine into the iPhone in a potential blockbuster deal
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The idea that Big Tech represents a new form of global government isn't so outlandish when the companies themselves are keen to claim that mantle.
Here's Brad Smith comparing Microsoft's AI investments to bringing electricity to the world's poor.
via
@POLITICOEurope
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It’s regrettable that some chose to focus on FSM’s nationality in opposing the appointment. But as civil society and many MEPs made clear, the real issue was Scott Morton’s considerable conflicts. Hopefully the Commission thinks twice about hiring Big Tech consultants in future.
Professor Fiona Scott Morton has informed me of her decision to not take up the post as Chief Competition Economist. I accept this with regret and hope that she will continue to use her extraordinary skill-set to push for strong competition enforcement
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Speaking to MEPs, Vestager refuses to provide transparency on FSM’s conflicts, but claims these are minor and won’t undermine her work on the DMA or Big Tech in general. Suggests either (a) the Commission hasn’t assessed conflicts properly or (b) the rules aren’t fit for purpose.
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*Professional news klaxon*
Very excited to share that as of this week I’ve joined leading anti-monopoly think tank
@openmarkets
as the new (and very first!) Director of Europe & Transatlantic Partnerships, based in Brussels but covering both the EU and the UK.
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A much-needed corrective to the increasingly hysterical narrative around European "decline".
Sure, Europe has room to improve economically. But you aren't telling the full story if you ignore the far better work-life balance, stronger welfare state, lower inequality etc.
Europeans and Americans do things differently. Europeans have more time, and Americans more money. It is a cop-out to say which you prefer is a matter of taste. So which do you prefer?
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Delighted to have contributed an essay to this fantastic
@AINowInstitute
compendium taking a critical look at the growing prominence of AI in global industrial policies, including the risk of ideological and financial capture by powerful corporate interests.
AI industrial policies increasingly shape the relationship of govts to the AI industry, committing public $ to R&D and procurement.
Today, we publish “AI Nationalism(s)”: an essay collection surveying this consequential wave of global policymaking:
1/🧵
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Depressing but totally unsurprising to see Apple follow in Google's footsteps and offer third party payments under conditions that no sane developer would accept.
Expect to see a lot more of this kind of sham "compliance" as the Digital Markets Act comes into effect.
Judge: “Apple cannot disallow Apps to link to other payment methods”
Apple: lolz. Ok, we’ll take 27% and...
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Yesterday the
@CMAgovUK
published a major report on foundation models, the first serious attempt by a regulator to grapple with AI's competition implications. While mostly noncommittal, the report gives some intriguing indications of where the CMA might intervene in future 🧵
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Monopoly power features front and centre of
@Oxfam
's new inequality report.
As they put it, we face a "fundamental choice: between a new age of billionaire supremacy, controlled by monopolists and financiers, or transformative public power...founded upon equality and dignity".
In our latest report, we look at how a new era of
#corporate
&
#monopoly
power is at the heart of extreme
#inequality
.
Billionaire
#wealth
& corporate power are intimately connected. Corporations are creating & sustaining a global
#gilded
age.
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This is a powerful declaration on the need to tackle the economic roots of political discontent – including reining in concentrated market power – signed by an impressive array of leading economists including
@MazzucatoM
@IsabellaMWeber
@PikettyWIL
.
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"We thought liberal democracy would be the bulwark against dictatorship and autocracy. But liberalism has been supplanted by corporatism, which lacks a moral compass and makes a mockery of the public good."
in today’s world, the will of the people has been supplanted by the will of corporations that don’t care about the public good
who’s to blame? political leaders and elites who took public institutions for granted...when we needed them most
@ColumbiaSIPA
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I like the DMA, I want it to succeed, and it's already brought about some positive changes in business practices. But
@Caffar3Cristina
is right that if we don't pair it with more ambitious interventions targeting the roots of Big Tech's structural power, we won't get very far.
New: My unvarnished views on the prospects of
#digital_markets_regulation
in Europe. Godspeed, EC team. Everyone else: perspective please. 1/3
@techpolicypress
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"Chinese mercantilism, European and US corporate price gouging, American Big Tech and Too Big To Fail banks are really all disparate parts of one problem — too much concentration of power in one place."
Nicely said
@RanaForoohar
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Earlier this week the UK published its answer to the DMA – the 400-page Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill.
I've read it so you don't have to. Initial thoughts: it's a impressive piece of legislation which could nonetheless be improved in a few key ways.
A thread:
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"With Lina Khan, we finally have an FTC head with no such conflicts, no history of working for anyone whom the commission might regulate, and...no prospect of a cushy post-office career at the companies she used to regulate."
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Looking forward to speaking at this event today in Berlin! I’ll be giving a keynote on Big Tech’s dominance in AI, and what that means for Europe’s future autonomy, prosperity and resilience.
When the new Commission team takes up the reins in October, it will be immediately confronted by the six
#horsemen
of the
#digital
#apocalypse
! You can follow the live stream of the
#EUdataSummit
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Odd to argue that MS doesn't "control the direction of OpenAI" given it literally overthrew OpenAI's board when it tried to fire Sam Altman.
Hopefully the
@CMAgovUK
and
@FTC
are more bold – if not, we'll once again be looking back in 10 years wondering why we failed to act.
Microsoft will avoid a formal EU investigation over its $13 billion investment into OpenAI
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“Fourth is Biden realising that the growing anger about profiteering is a huge opening for him. The pandemic brought out a series of sectors where fewer and fewer companies dominated and pushed up prices and earned super-profits.”
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Starting 2024 with a bang 💥
As reported today by
@POLITICOEurope
, a coalition of civil society groups including
@openmarkets
@mozilla
@ICCLtweet
have written to the
@CMAgovUK
calling for a full investigation into Microsoft's $13 billion monopolistic partnership with OpenAI.
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Not only is this dangerous, but if you wanted to design AI regulation that accelerates market concentration instead of checking it, this is exactly what you’d do.
France's Mistral dials up call for EU AI rules to fix rules for apps, not model makers by
@riptari
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I'm quoted in this
@WIRED
piece on why yesterday's 1.8 billion euro fine for Apple is just the first shot in a much bigger regulatory battle between the company and the EU that is only getting started.
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I spoke to
@WIRED
about Apple’s highly questionable “compliance” with the Digital Markets Act, and why developers are - justifiably - very unhappy what with they’ve been offered.
@EU_Competition
is going to have a lot of work on its hands come March 7.
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Great to see our new report on AI and monopoly power get a shout out from
@RanaForoohar
in the FT.
As she puts it, "decentralisation and increased competition, not the entrenchment of existing players as national champions" is the path to tech success.
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A reminder that Arm remains an independent company only after the US and UK competition authorities stopped Nvidia from swallowing it up two years ago.
Tough merger control is good for business.
Arm Holdings was already one of world’s most expensive stocks for its size heading into last week’s earnings report. After three days of manic share buying, it’s now in a league of its own
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Breton apparently making the transition from social media influencer to internet troll.
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Nothing quite like waking up to the news that a jury has found Google to be an illegal monopoly. But as Brussels has learned the hard way, now comes the tricky part - designing effective remedies.
the jury in Epic v. Google has just delivered its verdict. It found that Google turned its Google Play App Store and Google Play Billing service into an illegal monopoly
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Paid advisor to large companies seeking to merge writes an article complaining about the CMA having the nerve to block an anti-competitive merger, while calling on the government to limit the regulator's independence. Not problematic at all.
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Last month, the British Parliament finally approved new DMA-style powers for the UK. In this piece for
@techpolicypress
,
@cori_crider
and I explore what the road to enforcement could look like, including the potential impact of a new Labour government 🧵
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Another great event taking place this week in Brussels on Friday, with
@openmarkets
Barry Lynn speaking along
@francesca_bria
@mer__edith
@ambaonadventure
@glenweyl
and others on how smart public investment can help us build a more open and democratic digital commons.
For those in Brussels, come hear
@mer__edith
(and more great speakers) next Friday at the end of
@CPDP
!
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A big day for competition enforcement in 🇩🇪. Not only has Apple been designated under Germany's ex-ante framework, but the cabinet has approved sweeping reforms giving the
@Kartellamt
powers to impose tough remedies on entire sectors, including break-ups and profit clawbacks 👏
Es ist durch! Das Bundeskabinett hat soeben das „Wettbewerbsdurchsetzungsgesetz“ beschlossen. Diese Stärkung des Bundeskartellamts ist die größte Reform des Wettbewerbsrechts seit Ludwig Erhard. Das Gesetz wird den Wettbewerb stärken. Ein Thread.
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In the nick of time before the upcoming general election, Parliament has passed the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill, the UK’s more versatile answer to the DMA.
Looking forward to seeing how the
@CMAgovUK
puts its new powers to work, not least in relation to AI.
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Excited to be co-hosting this critical set of discussions on April 15th in Brussels on how the next EU Commission can put tackling monopoly power at the heart of its economic policy agenda.
See the full programme and register using the link below:
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Insightful deep-dive by
@BertuzLuca
on monopolisation of AI by Big Tech and the role of the DMA in fighting back (though the failure to designate cloud platforms makes this much harder).
With thoughts from me,
@KrisShrishak
@Caffar3Cristina
@Zach_CER
@sebastianobxl
and others.
In a few years, we are likely to see most
#AI
solutions being built on a handful of foundation models, and some Big Tech companies are already leveraging their position in the cloud market to become dominant in the AI space. Can EU regulators stop this?
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@SabinaCiofu
@DavidHenigUK
One of the most annoying and ill-judged pieces of writing I’ve read in a while 🤦♂️
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This Thursday,
@openmarkets
is hosting a panel at
@CPDPconferences
on centralisation of power in AI & what to do about it.
@BertuzLuca
will be moderating a discussion between
@kimvsparrentak
,
@Caffar3Cristina
,
@ambaonadventure
,
@sebastianobxl
& myself.
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9
24
Despite what Google's 'leaked' memo would have you think, this incisive piece by
@strwbilly
shows how most 'open-source' AI is built atop a handful of centralised models – and why access to those is likely to quickly narrow.
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Earlier this week I had the privilege to give evidence before Parliament on the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill, a landmark piece of legislation that will bolster UK and global efforts to rein in Big Tech.
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Very odd suggestion from a UK government minister that a British person already living in the US, who is now going to work for a US tech giant, will somehow transform the UK into the next Silicon Valley.
Mustafa and Microsoft look like a great fit - no one knows the incredible AI ecosystem we have here in the UK better than Mustafa.
Quite a thing to see the top roles in AI both at Deep Mind/Google and Microsoft go to extraordinary British talent - helping us realise our
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On vibes-based stock markets and the absurd valuation of Trump’s recently-listed Truth Social, currently priced at 1,400 times its (non-existent) revenues.
Great piece by
@jemimajoanna
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9
20
While the EC's case rested too much on self-preferencing and not enough on data and privacy harms, delighted to see this deal finally bite the dust.
Proud of the role played by
@openmarkets
@Foxglovelegal
@SOMO
@BalancedEconomy
in leading public opposition to the takeover.
❗️ Amazon abandons its planned $1.4 billion swoop for Roomba maker iRobot after clashing with European Union regulators who had threatened to block the deal w/
@leah_nylen
@mattmday
@technology
:
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Interestingly, Vestager says the assessment of FSM’s conflicts is “still ongoing”. Begs the obvious question of why such high-profile appointments are able to take place before these assessments are complete.
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What a time to be alive.
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"If today’s tech companies had invented electricity, we’d all be paying exorbitant prices to constantly upgrade wiring and outlets that are super sleek, pump out massive voltage, and occasionally short-circuit, singe our fingertips, or explode."
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7
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Wrote a piece for the
@thetimes
on why the CMA's tough approach to Big Tech is very good news indeed for the UK's tech sector, despite what a handful of entrenched incumbents might have you believe.
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22
The
@EUombudsman
has launched a much-needed investigation into the departure of a senior EU antitrust official to a US big law firm. Some striking language in the letter on the "corrosive effect" of the revolving door on public trust & European interests.
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9
21
Good news that both the 🇪🇺 & 🇫🇷 competition authorities are investigating the highly concentrated chips market, which is not only anti-competitive but a major systemic risk.
Regulators need to move fast to tackle monopolisation of the AI tech stack.
0
10
22
I've got a piece in
@techpolicypress
this week arguing that with the reinvigoration of antitrust enforcement in the US, the EU risks becoming a laggard in the global effort to rein in Big Tech.
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5
22
This week,
@openmarkets
and partners contributed to the
@CMAgovUK
review of partnerships between Big Tech firms & AI startups.
Left unchallenged, these deals risk extinguishing competition in AI and fuelling further concentration in digital markets 🧵
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6
22
Delighted to share
@openmarkets
new report – "AI in the Public Interest: Confronting the Monopoly Threat – written by me,
@pressgirlk
and
@barryclynn
.
Our report argues that AI should above all be seen as a function of existing concentration.
1/8 🧵
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Opportunity alert‼️
I'm looking for a part-time (approx 2-3 days per week) research fellow to support
@openmarkets
expanding work in Europe, touching on everything from AI and DMA enforcement to industrial policy and the EU elections.
More info here:
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9
22
Yet another bad take by the
@TheEconomist
, after their lazy piece defending the anti-competitive Microsoft/Activision merger. The Bank of England, the ECB, the IMF and others have noted the role of corporate profits in rising inflation, but somehow it's still a "nonsense idea".
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Important piece by
@RanaForoohar
on the need to break antitrust policy out of its technocratic bubble, drawing on the recent DOJ suit against Google.
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21
Under the terms of her appointment,
@ProfFionasm
will be unable to advise on this case given her work for Microsoft, and on any other (merger, antitrust, DMA-related) investigations launched over the next two years into Microsoft and any other companies she's consulted for.
FT exclusive: Microsoft will face a formal EU antitrust investigation next week over claims the US tech giant is unfairly bundling its video conferencing app Teams with its popular Office software
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While each of these deals might look relatively insignificant in isolation, taken together they paint a clear picture of an AI industry that is rapidly consolidating around a few entrenched tech giants. Credit to the CMA for understanding the threat, and taking it seriously.
We’re inviting comments on the partnerships, and other arrangements, between
#Microsoft
and
#Mistral
#AI
,
#Amazon
and
#Anthropic
, and Microsoft and
#Inflection
AI.
Read more:
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20
Former telecoms CEO Breton once again lobbying for more telecoms mergers as reported by
@POLITICOEurope
There's a very good reason for the presumption against 4-to-3 mergers; research shows they lead to higher consumer prices without having a clear effect on overall investment.
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Official confirmation that the European Commission is now the weakest major regulator in the room when it comes to Big Tech mergers.
@EU_Competition
inexplicably prefers wasting time & money monitoring complex commitments for the next 10 years instead of just stopping the deal.
#EUMergerControl
Commission 🇪🇺 clears acquisition of Activision Blizzard 🎮by Microsoft, subject to conditions 👇
🔗➡️
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With the CMA, the EU and now the FTC investigating, the walls are quickly closing in on these so-called AI “partnerships” - better described as acquisitions in all but name.
FTC is seeking info from Microsoft-OpenAI, Amazon-Anthropic, and Google-Anthropic on their investments + partnerships re: generative AI and cloud service providers.
Focus on goal + implications of partnerships/investments + analysis of competitive impact.
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As
@RanaForoohar
starkly puts it, generative AI's voracious appetite for the creative efforts and property of publishers, artists and others is set to "make the previous 20 years of Big Tech’s rapacious rent extraction from content creators look minor by comparison".
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7
20
Believe what you're seeing - Brussels actually wants to break up a Big Tech platform.
After years of trying to rein in dominant platforms through futile behavioural remedies, Vestager and the Commission have finally realised that sometimes, structural is the only way to go.
.
@Google
controls both sides of the
#adtech
market: sell & buy. We are concerned that it may have abused its dominance to favour its own
#AdX
platform. If confirmed, this is illegal.
@EU_Commission
might require Google to divest part of its services.
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Damian is absolutely right – the Franco-German push for "European champions" via weaker merger control will do nothing to boost Europe's competitiveness while creating local monopolies that rip off consumers, pay workers less & that have little incentive to innovate or invest.
This is not the way. Evergreening large players with public cash will not make Europe more competitive.
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