AAI President Diana Moss explained that data and data processing can be strategic assets to Reuters in “U.S. Justice Dept meeting with state officials focuses on data privacy.” Moss noted that data raises competitive issues that are highly relevant to antitrust enforcement, especially mergers and exclusionary conduct. Here statements from the article appear below.
The easiest step would be for antitrust agencies to consider opposing mergers of companies that combine large caches of consumer data if that data can enhance market power, such as Apple’s acquisition of the music recognition app Shazam, said Diana Moss, president of the American Antitrust Institute. Moss also noted that mergers that combine data processing capability, which relies increasingly on artificial intelligence, could also enhance the market power of already powerful companies in a way that could violate antitrust law. “Data and data processing can absolutely be a strategic asset that can be enhanced by a merger (and) can be used by a dominant firm to exclude rivals,” she said.
