FREEDOM ON THE NET 2021 The Global Drive to Control Big Tech Germany passed similar provisions in a January 2021 Digitalization Act that grants the Federal Cartel Office (FCO) greater authority to investigate companies’ behavior, with a specific mandate to ascertain whether they are denying interoperability, preinstalling apps, preventing competitors from advertising, or failing to provide users with agency to determine and understand how their data are processed. After the passage of the law, the FCO launched investigations into market behavior by Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. The UK Competition and Markets Authority announced in June that it would play an active role in shaping Google’s new Privacy Sandbox feature to ensure that replacements for cookie tracking, meant to protect privacy, do not harm competition. Antimonopoly action also intensified in the United States. Under new chairperson Lina Khan, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has pursued more vigorous rulemaking and lowered the threshold for staff to launch investigations and sue companies. The Biden administration issued an executive order in July that empowered the FTC and the Department of Justice to more stringently enforce existing antitrust laws, challenge previous mergers, and create new rules addressing companies’ accumulation of Americans’ data. Separately, Google and Apple faced lawsuits over their app store fees, and a bundle of antitrust bills that could fundamentally reshape the US tech sector were introduced in Congress this year. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has been active over the past year. In August 2020, Apple paid $84 million to settle an antitrust case after an investigation found that the company had abused its position of dominance by burdening local businesses with iPhone-related costs. In April 2021, the commission raided Facebook’s local offices as part of a probe into whether the company forces app developers to advertise solely on its platform. And in June 2021, a new division was set up to investigate whether major companies like Facebook and Google have engaged in unfair practices, including the deceptive collection of personal data, to fuel online advertising. In May 2021, Argentina's National Commission for the Defense of Competition ordered Facebook’s WhatsApp platform to suspend the implementation of its new privacy policy for at least 180 days. The measure was part of an effort to ensure that the company does not “abuse its dominant market position,” as the new policy would give Facebook access to users’ data “at a level other companies 20 @freedomonthenet cannot replicate.” Similar investigations into WhatsApp’s privacy policy changes are underway in India. Compelling platforms to share revenue with publishers Regulators in several countries sought to pressure tech companies into negotiations with news publishers on the sharing of profits from advertising revenue. Google agreed in early 2021 to seek revenue-sharing agreements with French publishers in compliance with a new copyright law, but France’s antitrust agency imposed a €500 million ($600 million) fine in July on the grounds that the tech giant was not negotiating in good faith. In May 2021, Facebook agreed to share revenue with 14 Canadian publishers. In Australia, a News Media Bargaining Code that was adopted in February 2021 raised tensions among major publishers, tech companies, and the government. The rules came about after the country’s competition watchdog found that technology companies were not treating domestic media organizations fairly. The code establishes an arbitration regime requiring designated platforms to negotiate and pay a narrowly defined set of news outlets when their content is used. While competition policy can play a role in ensuring media diversity and sustainability, the Australian measure privileges legacy media institutions at the expense of newer, smaller, and more local outlets, and it does not stipulate that the beneficiaries must use the new revenue for journalistic purposes. The code also obliges platforms to share user data with media organizations, further embedding the news industry in the problematic targeted-advertising industry. In response to the flawed legislation, Facebook took the extraordinary decision to block all news content for users based in Australia for one week. The move restricted access to community groups, health information, and other essential services in the process. Eventually, Facebook lifted the ban after the government made amendments to the code designed to extend revenue-sharing negotiations. Competition policy as a tool for regime empowerment In authoritarian states and other countries that lack effective due process guarantees, competition enforcement carries a stronger risk of abuse. Although monopolistic corporations and unfair market practices are just as corrosive to users’ rights in such countries as they are in democracies, several cases demonstrate the potential for competition policy to #FreedomOnTheNet