Policy Realignment and Competition in Attention Markets

Over the past decade, a rapid shift in public attitudes toward large corporations has propelled antitrust law from obscurity to a favorite tool of progressive and conservative populists. Several factors account for this rise in antitrust’s political salience, one of which is the remarkable success of a new wave of anti-bigness advocates in attention markets. These advocates have branded themselves as 21st-century trustbusters, promoting their anti-bigness agenda as an “anti-monopoly movement.” They have adeptly converted their gains in attention markets into political influence and control over antitrust institutions. Their achievements have sparked both optimism and concerns that we might be witnessing an anti-monopoly realignment, with anti-bigness ideologies on the verge of reshaping antitrust policies. This essay explores the plausibility of an anti-monopoly realignment transforming antitrust law and policy