Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Department of Justice (DOJ), Antitrust Division Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Rescind or revise the following regulatory and interpretive provisions that limit enforcement against digital platform consolidation and self-preferencing: 16 CFR Parts 1, 2, and 3 – FTC administrative, investigative, and adjudicative procedures related to antitrust enforcement FTC Horizontal Merger Guidelines (2010) and Vertical Merger Guidelines (2020) – Interpretive documents governing merger review thresholds and market definition analysis 28 CFR Part 0.40–0.49 – DOJ Antitrust Division organizational rules and internal case assignment structure DOJ/FTC Clearance Procedures and Safe Harbor Interpretations for Technology Mergers 47 CFR § 1.1–1.120 – FCC procedural rules and adjudicative frameworks that limit intervention in platform-based communication and access issues Rescind any standing non-enforcement guidance or forbearance policies that enable consolidation of content delivery, infrastructure, and monetization within a single platform entity

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Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

Interpretive merger guidance and enforcement thresholds that enable digital platform monopolies to consolidate market and speech control

Current merger and market power enforcement thresholds are inadequate for addressing monopolistic dominance in the digital economy. These gaps allow a handful of platforms to control both economic participation and public discourse without meaningful competition or accountability.

Federal Trade Commission 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20580

(202) 326-2918

Antitrust enforcement frameworks have failed to keep pace with the structure of digital markets, which operate on network effects, behavioral targeting, and data aggregation rather than traditional price manipulation. Mergers, vertical integration, and algorithmic control have created de facto gatekeepers of both commerce and communication—entities that simultaneously host, surveil, deplatform, compete with, and profit from other businesses and citizens without independent oversight.

Market consolidation by major tech platforms poses an existential threat to competition, free speech, and civic infrastructure. The same entities now dominate advertising, search, social discourse, logistics, AI access, and even infrastructure. Current regulatory inaction has ceded sovereignty over public square functions to private monopolies. Stronger regulatory standards, merger bans, and structural separation are needed to restore fairness, protect innovation, and prevent private capture of public voice.

All interpretive rules, policy statements, and enforcement thresholds that permit unchecked platform consolidation, vertical integration, or data monopolization shall be rescinded. New regulations will: (a) Prohibit self-preferencing by dominant platforms; (b) Ban mergers and acquisitions that entrench control over digital markets, speech infrastructure, or access to audiences; (c) Require structural separation between platform services (e.g., hosting, content moderation, marketplace participation, and advertising access).

Andrew Ferguson

Chair, FTC