Companies under US antitrust investigation or targeted by federal monopolization litigation won't receive special treatment even if they have connections in the Trump administration, the second-highest US Department of Justice antitrust enforcer has warned. Roger Alford was responding to questioning at a conference about mixed messages over scrutiny of Big Tech firms.
Companies under US antitrust investigation or targeted by federal monopolization litigation won't receive special treatment even if they have connections in the Trump administration, the second-highest US Department of Justice antitrust enforcer has warned.Roger Alford, who recently began a role as principal deputy assistant attorney general in the DOJ's antitrust division, was asked at a conference* about mixed messages over scrutiny of Big Tech firms.
He was asked about the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission's commitment to vigorous antitrust enforcement, especially against large digital platforms, even as observers watching from Europe find the messaging occasionally mixed.
US President Donald Trump has struck out at what he has called "very unfair" treatment of US companies by European regulators, saying cases against Apple, Google and Meta Platforms are a form of taxation (see here).
Alford was asked: "There is a sense that the administration will be more transactional and may allow certain things and defends, in fact, tech giants, vis-à-vis foreign authorities, foreign powers. What is your view about the enforcement effort that was started under the previous Trump [administration] and then continued under the Biden administration?"
The DOJ enforcer, who served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the first Trump administration, cited his new boss Abigail Slater and said that the best response to new innovative industries such as artificial intelligence is vigorous competition, "not the creation of government-chosen national champions."
"That is not the answer. So, what we really want is really effective competition, not to give a special blessing to a particular company that has connections with someone in the administration," Alford said. "We want effective competition so they can compete better as well," he said.
Alford's remarks came on the same day as Meta's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, visited the White House to lobby Trump and administration officials to come to a settlement that would prevent the company from having to face an antitrust trial in the US.
Meta is accused of having monopolized the market for personal social networking services, and the Federal Trade Commission is seeking to undo the decade-old WhatsApp and Instagram mergers in a two-month trial beginning April 14 (see here and here).
— With additional reporting by Dwight A. Weingarten.
* "Antitrust Under Trump: Ferguson, Slater, Caffarra & Mundt Weigh In," FGS Global + Capitol Forum, Washington, DC, April 2, 2025.
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