April 20, 2024

Welcome to Letters from CAMP, a newsletter on anti-monopoly activity in Canada and abroad, brought to you by the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project. In this installment we have:

• Pharmacy benefit managers under the spotlight as Competition Bureau looks into healthcare middlemen
• Empty promises won’t protect Canada’s sovereignty when it comes to critical infrastructure
• Historic U.S. antitrust trial that Mark Zuckerberg tried to kill starts this coming Monday

Now let’s dive in.

Judge Finds Google Holds Illegal Online Ad Monopoly

In a historic decision, a U.S. federal judge ruled this week that Google broke antitrust laws in the online advertising market. Judge Brinkema determined that Google unfairly limited competition by buying up competitors and creating conflicts of interest through its control of multiple parts of the online ad system. This marks the second time Google has been declared a monopolist in the U.S., following a 2024 ruling about its search engine dominance.

The next big question is what penalty Google will face. The judge might force Google to sell off major portions of its advertising technology business, including the DoubleClick platform it bought in 2008. Such changes could create more competition in online advertising, potentially helping advertisers, publishers, and consumers worldwide by lowering costs and improving services.

However, if the remedies only apply to Google’s U.S. operations, other countries might not see the benefits. That’s why a similar case in Canada remains important. Canada’s Competition Bureau is pursuing its own legal action against Google, covering the same issues in online advertising. The U.S. victory helps the Canadian case, but regulators still face challenges in our own legal system, which has gravitated towards a narrow interpretation of competition law.

The case is another reminder that global authorities can take on these tech giants and win. In doing so, the U.S. has taken an important step to dismantling one of the many monopolies that make up its economy. Now it’s time for Canada to ensure our own citizens see the same benefits.

📰 CAMP in the News 📰

• ​An Interview with CAMP Executive Director Keldon Bester, (Climate Cents)

New Report Dives Into Canadian Labour Market Concentration

Monopolies can emerge in any market, and the market for our labour is no different. When companies don’t have to compete for employees, they squeeze wages, degrade job conditions, and unfairly restrict workers. This week, economist and CAMP co-founder Robin Shaban released a new report with the CSA Group reminding us that fair competition isn’t just a consumer issue; it’s a worker issue too.

Looking at labour market concentration across over 800 local job markets from 2018 to 2023, Shaban found that markets with few options for workers are not limited to small or remote communities. The data reveal significant labour monopsony (the term of art for when a single buyer rather than single seller has too much power) even in mid-sized Canadian cities​. Certain sectors stand out nationwide: health care, post-secondary education, and social services all display high employer concentration​.

While competition law has long ignored the concerns of workers, the tide is turning. Reforms in 2024 strengthened the role of labour in Canadian merger law and just this week the U.S. DOJ secured a win against a conspiracy to fix the wages of home nurses in Nevada. These are big steps forward, aligning Canada with a growing North American effort to tackle wage-fixing, no-poach agreements, and employer concentration that keeps workers down.

Shaban calls for strengthened enforcement by equipping the Competition Bureau with resources and expertise in labour economics and a greater focus on employer concentration in collective bargaining. The first of hopefully many studies of this kind, this new report shines a light on the market that ensures we get a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work

📚 What We’re Reading 📚

• Çavuş, Silva and Teeffelen, Big Tech acquires a new company every 11 days (SOMO)
• Stofferahn, Antimonopoly and Abundance (You’re Probably Getting Screwed)
• Cochrane, Tariffs are already changing Canada’s job market, and workers are paying the price (Globe and Mail)

Meta’s Monopoly on Trial: Zuckerberg Takes the Stand

Over a decade ago, Facebook (now Meta) spent billions to buy two rising rivals – Instagram and WhatsApp. Now, those same deals might be on the chopping block. In a Washington, D.C. courtroom, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is pursuing a landmark case to break up Meta.

This was the first week of the trial, and it kicked off with blockbuster testimony from none other than Mark Zuckerberg himself​. The FTC’s opening arguments wasted no time in framing the narrative: Facebook’s purchase of these companies wasn’t benign or pro-consumer – it was a deliberate move to “snuff out” nascent competition and maintain a social networking monopoly​. Meta argues the FTC has drawn the market too narrowly, excluding platforms like TikTok, YouTube, or iMessage that Meta says compete for users’ attention​.

The trial comes just a week after the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee testimony of Sarah Wynn-Williams, former Director of Global Public Policy at Meta. Beyond the consumer harms outlined in the antitrust trial, Williams alleged Meta executives compromised U.S. national security to expand its business in China. The two events are a reminder that monopolies are not just corrosive to our economic lives, but our sovereignty as well.

To keep up with the day-to-day developments of the trial be sure to subscribe to Big Tech on Trial for coverage as the historic event unfolds.

If you have any monopoly tips or stories you’d like to share, drop us a line at hello@antimonopoly.ca

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