Apocalypse Now: The Tipline for 17 February 2021

Former Federal Trade Commission Chair Bill Kovacic thinks some of the current antitrust debate resembles the post-apocalyptic thriller Mad Max – but instead of fighting in a destitute wasteland over scarce water supplies, competition wonks are arguing over whether the US antitrust agencies have brought a case in the past 40 years focused on harm to innovation. Progressives certainly have not monopolised dystopian rhetoric. Senator Mike Lee warned of the “soft totalitarianism of a corporate shadow state” caused by “Big Tech” as he set out Senate Republicans' antitrust agenda for the 117th Congress.