Three’s a party: The Tipline for 9 September 2019

The structure of US antitrust enforcement is a bit unusual in that there are two federal agencies responsible for applying the nation’s competition law. State attorneys general have always had their role in national enforcement, but they have often lined up beside either the Department of Justice or Federal Trade Commission. Now, a fierce streak of independence suggests states are certainly more than just an afterthought in the whole process – and perhaps are emerging as a third national enforcer to be reckoned with. That streak was on display through their challenges to an alleged cartel involving generic pharmaceuticals investigation and to the T-Mobile/Sprint merger. You can now add investigations into Facebook and Google to that list.