The US Department of Justice

Write a memo of 750–900 words, using a deductive argument, to convince the US Department of Justice that antitrust action should be taken to break up Facebook.

The setting is present day. Adopt the role of a new Fellow at the Open Markets Institute, an advocacy group that focuses their energy on opposing corporate concentration and monopoly power. When writing your memo, ensure that you are writing from this perspective.

As you know, Facebook has been allowed to operate with limited regulatory action taken against them up until this point by the federal government. Facebook executives have testified in front of Congress, and some steps have been taken by the FTC and Justice Department, but these actions have been relatively minor. This is entirely consistent with the level of regulation that has occurred in the realm of antitrust since the late-1970s (see cited article for this history)1.

However, it is clear to you in your role as an Open Markets Fellow that Facebook’s actions, and the results of those actions, warrant scrutiny and enforcement by the Justice Department. Most specifically your attention has been drawn to the three aspects of antitrust law that could prompt action by the Justice Department: anti-competitive conduct, anti-competitive results, and anti-competitive mergers/acquisitions2. You have looked at the history of antitrust enforcement and are confident that, given the examples of other large companies that have been broken up in the past and the parallels with the present, that Facebook deserves the same treatment.

In the role of a Open Markets Institute Fellow, using a deductive argument, write a 750 to 900 word memo to Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim — head of the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice — arguing that antitrust action should be taken to force the break-up of Facebook. The word count excludes footnotes, citations, and header material.

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