Biden Admin Sues Another Middleman Monopoly, Following Ticketmaster and RealPage Lawsuits
Washington, DC — On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa for monopolizing the debit card market. The lawsuit notes that more than 60 percent of all debit card transactions are run on Visa’s debit card network and alleges that the company uses this dominance to illegally limit competition and ultimately raise “the price of nearly everything” — and for nearly everyone. Demand Progress Education Fund has long called for government action to limit monopolies, including ones run by Ticketmaster and RealPage.
The following is a statement from Demand Progress Education Fund Corporate Power Director Emily Peterson-Cassin:
“Visa’s debit card dominance is a textbook example of how monopolies hurt all Americans. Because of their alleged monopoly over the debit card market, the company is able to extract unreasonably high fees for each debit card transaction and bully potential competitors with anticompetitive contract terms. The cost of these increased fees and unfair contracts are felt across the economy when the cost of doing business goes up for virtually every American.
We applaud the Justice Department for taking this needed action to protect consumers. Following similar lawsuits against Ticketmaster and RealPage, the Biden administration is once again targeting illegal, anticompetitive behavior from middlemen that use their monopolies to raise prices far higher than a fair market would allow.”
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