Novel Antitrust Remedies For Big Tech

Big tech is not amenable to routine antitrust remedies, which are designed to address restraint of trade and restore competition. One remedy that could work for Amazon is a court order governing its commercial decision processes. Herbert Hovenkamp of the University of Pennsylvania Law School opines that it could be entrusted to a board whose members include Amazon as well as representatives of merchants. A remedy that could apply to Facebook or Google would be for a court to impose interoperability requirements. They would be required to share the data they collect with competitors, thereby removing the size advantage, and requiring them to find other ways to compete. Hovenkamp argues that the remedy should be consistent with the underlying goal of antitrust, which is to make markets work better by expanding rather than contracting their offerings—and in a more competitive environment.