Internet companies too big? FTC chair says more than market share counts

A speech by the acting chairperson of the Federal Trade Commission pushes back, hard, against a growing clamor among those who fear Internet companies are getting too big. Speaking at Georgetown University, Maureen Ohlhausen said that the public must ask itself whether unelected government bureaucrats are the best qualified to pick the winners and losers in high tech markets.

The speech comes as a narrative has begun to emerge among some critics who charge that companies such as Amazon and Google have become so large they are monopolies that threaten competition. As Chair Ohlhausen put it in her speech, the fear is that “we are spiraling towards a dystopian future where a few giant technology companies will ultimately gain sustained control over our economic lives.” She emphasized that as acting chair of the Federal Trade Commission, the views she expressed were her own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the FTC.