February 2019

The Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition announced the creation of a task force dedicated to monitoring competition in US technology markets, investigating any potential anticompetitive conduct in those markets, and taking enforcement actions when warranted. The approximately 17 task force members, who will join the task force from divisions within the Bureau, will include attorneys with unique expertise in complex product and service markets and ecosystems, including markets for online advertising, social networking, mobile operating systems and apps, and platform businesses.

Officials from the US State Department and the Federal Communications Commission outlined their campaign to exclude Huawei from allies’ next generation communications networks, calling the Chinese equipment-maker “duplicitous and deceitful”. The officials, however, declined to offer any specific evidence of so-called backdoors in Huawei infrastructure that would permit it to spy on the US or its allies.

Internet inclusion is not guaranteed. Because of the Internet’s power and reach in our lives, uneven access can compound existing social and economic inequalities. The latest edition of the Inclusive Internet Index reveals that progress on closing the digital divide between low-income countries and the rest of the world has stalled, reflecting slow growth in internet connections and 4G network coverage in the past year.