Facebook Co-Founder Announces Big Antitrust Effort

The co-founder of  Facebook, Chris Hughes, has organized a $10 million ‘anti-monopoly’ fund that will explore ways to counter corporate consolidation in tech and several other industries. Hughes and the organization he co-chairs, the Economic Security Project are trying to build a movement to regulate or possibly dismantle big agriculture, healthcare, finance and other industries where lack of competition hurts consumers. They are backed by the Open Society Foundations, the Omidyar Network, created by the founder of eBay, and several other foundations. The fund could invest in organizations that advance privacy legislation, or in activist groups like those that fought against Amazon’s expansion in New York City. The announcement comes at a time of heightened interest in anti-competitive activity. Nearly every state attorney general has signed on to probes of Google, and Facebook. Hughes played an early role in those investigations, making the case that Facebook, in particular, needs to be broken up. Fund targets include healthcare industry ventures such as metro hospital mergers and alleged generic drug price-fixing, and revolving door oversight in the financial industry.