Brent Kendall

A federal appeals court ruled the Federal Trade Commission can move forward with its lawsuit alleging AT&T misled wireless subscribers by reducing data speeds for several million customers who thought they had purchased unlimited plans. The ruling by the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals is a notable win for the FTC because it restores the agency’s regulatory authority over large internet service providers.

The Senate confirmed Jonathan Kanter as the Justice Department’s top antitrust official, adding a pro-enforcement lawyer to a Biden-administration team that has already been aggressive in addressing what it sees as threats to competition. Kanter, 48, was confirmed on a bipartisan 68-29 vote, as Democrats and some Republicans believe antitrust enforcers should be doing more to protect competition in the marketplace, including in technology sector, agriculture and healthcare. Mr. Kanter has seen two decades of antitrust battles from several vantage points.

The Supreme Court curbed the Federal Trade Commission’s longtime practice of seeking to recover ill-gotten gains in court from companies and individuals who cheat or mislead consumers, upending a central enforcement tool the agency has relied on for decades. The court, in an opinion by Justice Stephen Breyer, ruled unanimously that a 1973 law, which gives the FTC the right to seek court injunctions to stop fraudulent or deceptive commercial activity, doesn’t grant the commission the power to seek financial judgments as well.

Congress is considering the most significant changes to antitrust law in decades, including some proposals with bipartisan support. Lawmakers are looking at setting a higher bar for acquisitions by companies that dominate their markets; making it easier for the government to challenge anti-competitive conduct; and potentially forcing some giant technology companies to separate different lines of their businesses.

The Justice Department said it was concerned that Facebook and Twitter restricted access to recent New York Post stories about the son of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, telling lawmakers the department supported bipartisan interest in changing a law providing legal protections to online platforms.

Federal Trade Commission staff members are recommending that the agency bring an antitrust case against Facebook, but commissioners haven’t yet reached a decision. The five-member FTC met privately via videoconference to discuss next steps, without taking action. The commission is facing political complexities, particularly with the Nov. 3 election looming. FTC Chairman Joseph Simons during his tenure has at times faced challenges in building coalitions among his Republican and Democratic colleagues.

Some Justice Department staffers have expressed internal concerns over plans to bring an antitrust lawsuit against Google—and what they view as an aggressive timeline favored by Attorney General William Barr. The department has been moving toward bringing a lawsuit as soon as this summer, but some lawyers involved in the yearlong investigation have expressed a belief that the department doesn’t have a camera-ready case right now and needs more t

Bad blood between the the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department's antitrust division -- entities investigating the giants of the tech industry -- has grown more intense with the delivery of a letter from one agency to the other that might be considered the equivalent of a brushback pitch. Both agencies assert authority to investigate whether US companies are violating antitrust law by squeezing out competition.

Apparently, the Federal Trade Commission is examining Facebook’s acquisitions as part of its antitrust investigation into the social-media giant—to determine if they were part of a campaign to snap up potential rivals before they could become a threat. Facebook disclosed the FTC’s antitrust investigation in its earnings announcement recently, but provided few details.

Apparently, the Department of Justice is poised to approve T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint under a divestiture plan that would equip satellite-TV operator Dish Network with the building blocks for a new wireless network. The companies have spent weeks negotiating with antitrust enforcers and each other over the sale of assets to Dish to satisfy concerns that the more than $26 billion merger of the No. 3 and No. 4 wireless carriers by subscribers would hurt competition.