Testify: The Tipline for 24 September 2019

At yesterday’s Department of Justice workshop on labour markets, assistant attorney general Makan Delrahim said the agency is committed to enforcing antitrust laws in labour markets, and participants debated what shape that enforcement should take. Today, we are back before the Senate antitrust subcommittee where lawmakers will hear testimony from Bruce Hoffman, the director of competition at the Federal Trade Commission’s bureau of competition, at a hearing “examining acquisitions of nascent or potential competitors by digital platforms”. Delrahim and FTC chair Joseph Simons delivered minimal details on the substance of their ongoing investigations into technology platforms last week, but it appears the senators feel they might be more lucky with Hoffman. Hopefully the subcommittee makes some time for patents. Unlike Delrahim and Simons, Hoffman is not recused from the FTC’s litigation and the DOJ’s intervention in Qualcomm.