AT&T-Time Warner is Godzilla v Rodan: citizens will get squashed

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Antitrust has two main theories of competition. One is to try to ensure that lots of rivals compete in open markets to create better products and services. Call this the democratic theory. The other is to allow a few giants to control everything, then use antitrust only to make sure there are enough giants to create some competition, here and there. Call this the Godzilla versus Rodan theory. Godzilla is, of course, the Japanese irradiated sea monster and Rodan is a flying beast strong enough to fight Godzilla. If you are a fan of the Godzilla versus Rodan theory, you’ll love the court decision that cleared the way for AT&T to buy Time Warner, despite the government’s attempt to block the deal. Judge Richard Leon, a George W Bush appointee whose opinions are frequently overturned, decided that giving AT&T enormous new powers over news and television is the only way to create competition for such supercreatures as Google, Facebook and Amazon. In doing so, the judge laid out a vision for the American political economy in which a small group of fantastically powerful conglomerates serve as gatekeepers to, and increasingly owners of, virtually all news, entertainment, books and online content. The judge even described how these megacorporations will get to use personally targeted advertising to exploit and manipulate the individuals who try to buy and sell in their realms. Godzilla can do pretty much whatever he wants to the citizen, this theory holds, as long as Rodan and maybe also Mechagodzilla get to share in the spoils. There are many problems with this thinking.

[Barry Lynn is the Executive Director of the Open Markets Institute]


AT&T-Time Warner is Godzilla v Rodan: citizens will get squashed