Meta, Amazon Power Grabs Test Limits of ‘MAGA Antitrust’
Washington, DC — On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Mark Zuckerberg has been lobbying President Donald Trump to help Meta avoid an April 14 antitrust trial. The trial stems from a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit over the company’s anti-competitive behavior, including buying Instagram and WhatsApp. Also on Wednesday, it was reported that Amazon is in the running to purchase TikTok. Last month, President Trump illegally attempted to fire Democratic FTC Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter, potentially leaving only two Republican members left. Demand Progress Education Fund has been a strong champion of the FTC’s work to protect consumers and has fought back against billionaire-led efforts to defang the agency.
The following is a statement from Emily Peterson-Cassin, corporate power director at Demand Progress Education Fund:
“Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos didn’t just get prime inauguration seats for their million-dollar donations to President Trump, they also appear to have gotten a hobbled FTC. Now they are using their concierge access to the White House to avoid accountability for trying to corner the social media market. This is the inevitable result of President Trump’s illegal attempt to purge Democratic members of the FTC.
FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson has talked a big game about ‘MAGA antitrust.’ If he wants to prove that there’s more to him than just hot air, he would stop two of the richest, most powerful men on Earth who control two of the richest, most powerful companies on Earth from using their monopoly power to crush their competition, hurt consumers and instead push the Trump administration to hold Big Tech monopolists accountable.”