Comedian John Oliver (no relation to MoginRubin antitrust attorney Jennifer Oliver, or so she claims) spent nearly a half hour of his show Last Week Tonight discussing the lack of competition among Big Tech companies and advocating for two federal antitrust bills. He targets Google, Meta, and Amazon, for their anti-competitive, self-preferencing behavior that cements their dominance and crushes competitors.
Referring to the ecommerce Goliath: “Basically, it is Amazon’s playground, they make the rules, and they do seem to win a lot of the time. If they are competing with you, you’re basically dead.” Oliver said Amazon is the only place to sell anything on the internet. “Unless that is you’re looking to offload some human teeth because then it’s Craigslist all the way, baby!” the comedian shouted.
Here is our contribution to the slim pantheon of antitrust jokes. “A federal regulator, an antitrust attorney, and a pigeon walk into a bookstore. Just kidding, there are no more bookstores.” We’ll be here all week.