Fake News is Not an Antitrust Problem

Abstract

Recently, there have been prominent calls to use antitrust enforcement to achieve objectives beyond that of protecting the competitive process. Adding to this increasing litany is an appeal to use antitrust to regulate the distribution of “fake news.” Specifically, there is an assertion that Facebook competes with and is responsible for speeding the demise of “legitimate” news sites by offering a favorable platform for “fake news.” In this article, we address this allegation in a standard monopolization and dominance framework. Ultimately, we find that fake news is not an antitrust problem and question whether fake news can or should be regulated — in the form of antitrust or otherwise.

Keywords: Antitrust, Fake News, Facebook, Dominance, Monopolization, Consumer Welfare Standard