Be wary: The Tipline for 8 April 2021

Federal Trade Commission member Noah Phillips expressed doubt yesterday that adopting more regulations – as Democratic commissioners have suggested – could help resolve antitrust issues. “I think it is true that antitrust, litigation at least, is a slow process,” Phillips said at an event hosted by Stanford University. “One proposal to deal with this is just to adopt a lot more ex ante rules. There’s a theory we can do this at the FTC. I’m sceptical of it.” The Republican’s comments follow the announcement last month that acting chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter has launched a new group intended to “activate” the agency’s competition rulemaking authority. “Rules can be good because they give you notice, but they can be overcorrecting,” Phillips said on Wednesday.