Open Markets Institute

OMI Reacts to Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery Deal & Trump’s Apparent Interference — Open Markets Institute Dr. Courtney Radsch, director of the Center for Journalism and Liberty at Open Markets released the following statement concerning the news that Netflix has dropped its bid for Warner Brothers Discove...

That would be a mistake for many reasons: www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications...

ICE Surge in Minnesota Hits Meatpacking Towns Operation Metro Surge expanded beyond the Twin Cities metro and chilled economic activity in rural Minnesota meatpacking towns with large immigrant communities.

In towns hours from Minneapolis, immigrant families are staying home out of fear. Kids are missing school. Errands go undone. Local economies are quietly grinding to a halt.

New from @clairek.bsky.social:

foodandpower.substack.com/p/ice-surge-...

This would be welcome news:

AOC Says Corporate Power Poses Major National Security Threats. She's Not Alone. On both sides of the aisle, and both sides of the Atlantic, alarm bells are ringing: Unchecked corporate power is now not just an economic issue, but a national security threat.

Allowing a small # of giant corporations to get richer & more powerful isn't just an economic problem -- it is also a national security threat.

NEW in Liberty & Power: libertyandpower.substack.com/p/aoc-says-c...

CJL Reacts to Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery Deal & Trump’s Apparent Interference  — Center for Journalism & Liberty Dr. Courtney Radsch, director of the Center for Journalism and Liberty at Open Markets released the following statement concerning the news that Netflix has dropped its bid for Warner Brothers Discove...

A Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal must not be allowed to go forward. Our reaction: www.journalismliberty.org/publications...

Proud to sign onto this:

Censorship and capitulation: the latest on Colbert v Carr Why corporate greed and cowardice, government jawboning and media behemoths blocked the airing of an interview with a Senate candidate from Texas.

CJL Director @courtneyr.bsky.social breaks down the latest Colbert free press controversy: substack.com/home/post/p-...

Children Before Profits State Playbook & Report — Open Markets Institute The Children Before Profits State Playbook is a joint project of Community Change, National Women’s Law Center, Open Markets Institute, and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund. It equips sta...

🎉 Announcing the release of the Children Before Profits State Playbook!

This toolkit from Community Change, @openmarkets.bsky.social @nwlc.org & @ourfinancialsecurity.org is for state & local advocates working to protect child care from private equity

www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications...

Report - Taming the Hyperscalers — Open Markets Institute The Open Markets Institute published a blueprint for Europe’s transition towards an open, competitive, and sovereign cloud market, co-authored by Europe director Max von Thun and EU tech policy fell...

It makes perfect sense for Europe to have sovereignty over its own cloud computing. Our OMI Europe colleagues have a fresh report on how to do it: www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications...

Europe Should Reject US-Style Competitiveness Sandeep Vaheesan challenges the belief that allowing pernicious business tactics is vital to the EU's economic success.

From surveillance by Google and Meta to OpenAI's use of copyrighted material, US tech giants have a long history of competitive practices that are patently injurious to consumers and workers, points out Sandeep Vaheesan. bit.ly/3OjK8u1

How to Bring Down Grocery Prices A civilian equivalent of the commissary system could deliver more affordable grocery prices to hard-pressed Americans.

The @washingtonmonthly.com Winter Issue wisely recommends Democrats go bold in their proposals to bring down prices.

Our Food Program Manager @clairek.bsky.social examines one of these ideas: public grocery stores. washingtonmonthly.com/2026/01/22/h...

The Corner Newsletter: February 10th, 2026 OpenAI’s RAMpage

This raises a number of serious economic and legal risks.

In this week's issue of The Corner newsletter, George Colville explains: openmarkets.substack.com/p/the-corner...

You may have missed it, but at the end of 2025, OpenAI essentially secured around 40% of the world's dynamic random access memory (DRAM) for the next few years.

Wall Street Doesn’t Reward Resilience, Main Street Does Minnesota shows how small businesses can support their communities through crisis while large corporations make measured statements, or worse, cooperate with authoritarian overreach.

In Food & Power, Minnesota resident @clairek.bsky.social observes community-based enterprises defending democracy while big corporations sit on the sidelines. foodandpower.substack.com/p/wall-stree...

The EU’s clearance of Google/Wiz: the wrong decision - Rebalance Now Civil society organisations across Europe seriously regret the European Commission’s decision to unconditionally clear Google’s proposed acquisition of Wiz. The decision runs counter to lessons drawn ...

The EU’s unconditional clearance of Google/Wiz is a mistake. Civil society statement by @balancedeconomy.bsky.social, @openmarkets.bsky.social, @somoamsterdam.bsky.social and @rebalance-now.bsky.social. rebalance-now.de/en/the-eus-c...

European Publishers Council files EU antitrust complaint about Google's AI Overviews The European Publishers Council has complained to EU antitrust regulators about Alphabet unit Google's AI-generated summaries known as AI Overviews, the lobbying group said on Tuesday.

European Publishers Council files EU antitrust complaint about Google's AI Overviews reut.rs/3ZYsdeX

Saving Journalism — Center for Journalism & Liberty The Open Markets Institute uses journalism to promote greater awareness of the political and economic dangers of monopolization.

It is essential to democracy that we design our policies and markets to independently fund and preserve journalism. Especially in the age of AI.

Learn how: www.journalismliberty.org/saving-journ... 2/2

Policy Brief Warns: U.S. “Free Speech” Attacks Threaten Europe’s Sovereignty and Democracy — Open Markets Institute CJL director Dr. Courtney Radsch and Europe director Max von Thun author a brief arguing that dominant U.S. platforms such as Google, Meta and X wield unprecedented power to manipulate political d...

Before the House Judiciary Cmte. kicks off their hearing on how the EU supposedly threatens American free speech, here's a brief on how it's actually the opposite: Dominant tech companies, unchecked, have manipulated all of our political discourse. www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications...

Critical points from @taylorlorenz.bsky.social: "Big Tech platforms wield far too much power over our information landscape to continue operating without transparency."

Or real checks on their power and reach.

Our submission on the Risks of Google’s Acquisition of Wiz - Rebalance Now Google intends to acquire the cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion. This would be the largest acquisition in Google’s history and another step toward strengthening Google’s market power. Together wi...

The Google/Wiz merger needs further scrutiny and should not be cleared. Our joint submission to the EU's competition authority with @openmarkets.bsky.social, @balancedeconomy.bsky.social, @somoamsterdam.bsky.social & @article19europe.bsky.social: rebalance-now.de/en/our-submi...

U.S. Court Fails to Apply Antitrust Law in Meta Case — Open Markets Institute Open Markets Institute Policy Counsel Tara Pincock released a statement on the misguided ruling on the FTC’s case regarding Meta’s monopoly in social media.

What we said: “This case has never been about generic 'time and attention.' It is about how people connect, communicate, and build communities—and about how a powerful company abused its dominance to protect itself from competition."

Catch up, Courts. www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications...

The Trends That Will Define US Antitrust in 2026 - ProMarket Four experts predict the trends that will define United States antitrust and competition in 2026.

@danielahanley.bsky.social shares his take on "The Trends That Will Define US Antitrust in 2026" @promarket.bsky.social

www.promarket.org/2026/01/15/t...

Railroad Merger: Why It Could Go Off the Rails Union Pacific’s $250 billion merger with Norfolk Southern will likely cause delays, consolidation, and higher costs instead of efficiency.

Jobs, safety, fair competition have all taken major hits from previous rail mergers and greater industry concentration.

Our transportation policy analyst Arnav Rao has examined this in depth: washingtonmonthly.com/2025/08/06/r...

🚨 The House Monopoly Busters Caucus is rightly asking the Surface Transportation Board to examine the impacts of a Norfolk Southern - Union Pacific merger, specifically with regard to workers, safety, and market competition.

deluzio.house.gov/sites/evo-su...

Why Elizabeth Warren Declared War on Abundance Billionaires In a fiery speech, Warren warned the Abundance agenda has been captured by Big-Tech and billionaires—and is hollowing out Democrats’ economic message when voters want a fight.

If you aren't terminally online, you may have wondered why Elizabeth Warren kicked off this week with fiery warnings to Democrats about the billionaires pushing the Abundance campaign.

Don't worry, we've got you covered. libertyandpower.substack.com/p/why-elizab...

The Corner Newsletter: January 13th, 2025 Google Flexes its TV Monopoly & OMI’s Testimony on Netflix-Warner Bros

Our regular newsletter, The Corner, is now on Substack. This week's focus: All eyes may be on the Netflix / Paramount / Warner Bros debate, but Google TV is also flexing its monopoly muscle. openmarkets.substack.com/p/the-corner...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren lays out vision for a 'big tent,' telling Democrats not to cater to wealthy donors The former presidential candidate called out a "tepid, nibble-around-the-edges approach" to economic policy and criticized specific figures in the party by name as part of the problem.

Did @elizabeth-warren.bsky.social just put the final nail in the "Abundance" coffin? She challenged its advocates to prove they are advancing the public good, rather than give the wealthy interests championing it more of what they want. www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

Consolidating Streaming Under Netflix Is Bad for Everyone. US Antitrust Authorities Should Flip the Script & Promote Industry Independence   — Open Markets Institute Netflix’s bid to swallow Warner Bros. Discovery’s studios and streaming business is a raw deal for viewers, writers, creators, theaters. Karina Montoya weighs in.

Ahead of tomorrow's House Judiciary hearing on consolidation in streaming services (the Netflix - Warner Bros acquisition), here's a reminder that regulators can choose to block any media giant from buying Warner Bros: www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications...

Barry Lynn Condemns Travel Bans on European Citizens — Open Markets Institute Barry Lynn condemns travel bans on five European citizens on the theory that their efforts to regulate the behavior of dominant online communications platforms amounted to censorship of American citiz...

The Trump administration is punishing the very people trying to protect Western democracy from Big Tech oligarchs and their control over our information systems.

Barry Lynn's statement on the travel ban on 5 European citizens: www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications...

Calling this out is a good first step - billionaire oligarchs who run media are bending the knee to Trump for their own bottom line.

There's a solution in the stated problem: Don't allow them to own media & communications platforms to this extent.