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Meta antitrust trial kicks off in federal court

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431 points c420 | 1 comments | 14 Apr 25 13:18 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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skizm ◴[14 Apr 25 19:52 UTC] No.43685539[source]▶
What's the point of getting FTC approval of an acquisition in the first place if they can just go back a decade later and undo it?
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bogwog ◴[14 Apr 25 21:28 UTC] No.43686518[source]▶
> What's the point of getting FTC approval

Efficiency? The people at the FTC reviewing mergers can't be experts of every corner of the economy, but if they catch an illegal merger during the approval process it can be blocked early without having to go to court.

An illegal merger is illegal no matter what. It's the corporation's responsibility to not break the law.

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1. loeg ◴[15 Apr 25 06:09 UTC] No.43689486[source]▶
It seems inefficient to retcon mergers as illegal a decade later. A merger is not necessarily black and white illegal or legal; just something vague on a grey spectrum that the FTC happens to be choosing to color an argument for one way or the other depending on current administrative priorities.