Open Markets Announces Next Stage in Our Antimonopoly Fight

Introducing the Open Markets Institute

Dear Friends,

Zephyr Teachout, Phil Longman, Lina Khan, Matt Stoller and the other members of our Open Markets team are thrilled to let you know that we are up and running as an independent nonprofit. As the Open Markets Institute, we are expanding our fight against the monopolists who threaten American liberties, democracy and prosperity.

As many of you know, the entire Open Markets team was forced out of our long-time home at the New America Foundation on August 31. The story began June 27, when we released a statement welcoming a European antitrust action against Google’s abuse of its monopoly power. Google complained to New America’s leadership. Two days later, we were given two months to leave.

Google flexing its muscle threatened not only our work, but our livelihoods. It also hurt many of our close friends and colleagues back at New America.

We are happy to say today that despite this rough summer, we are ready to stride forward. We are incorporated, with a board of directors and an advisory board of leading thinkers about the dangers of monopoly. This powerful team will help us continue to produce the vanguard anti-monopoly writing and analysis you all have come to expect from us.

The other good news is that the media coverage of our dismissal from New America has done wonders to shine a light on the threats that monopoly power generally and Google specifically pose to our society.

In addition to Kenneth Vogel’s initial article, which ran on the front page of the August 31 New York Times, thoughtful articles and editorials have been published in 300 mainstream media outlets, including the Economist, the Washington Post, the Financial Times, NPR, the Wall Street Journal, Vox, Talking Points Memo, and Inside Philanthropy. Zephyr, Matt, and I published op-eds here, here, and here focused on Google’s abuse of its power.

Even though the news broke when Congress was in recess, leaders from both sides of the aisle voiced strong support for our team. This includes Elizabeth Warren, Keith Ellison, John Conyers Jr., and the Congressional Progressive Caucus on one side. And it includes John Podhoretz, Bill Kristol, Tim Tancredo, Tucker Carlson, and the New York Post editorial board on the other.

Even while still at New America, we began to expand our capacities to engage in more targeted advocacy, outreach and coalition-building efforts. We are today in a far stronger position to use the Open Markets Institute – and our digital campaign arm www.citizensagainstmonopoly.org – to drive and shape this vitally important national discussion.

We will have more news in the coming days about how we plan to expand. In addition to building out our research and analysis of the platform monopolists, we will continue to cover the dangers of monopoly in food and farming, healthcare, transportation, communications, retail, international trade and many other sectors. We will also build our ability to detail how monopolists drive down the wages and benefits of workers, deprive innovators and independent business owners of real opportunity, and threaten our rights as citizens.

Please come visit us at our offices in WeWork White House at 1440 G Street NW in Washington, D.C.

Most important of all, know that we are all deeply grateful for all you’ve done to support our work over the years and especially over the last few tough weeks.

Thank you and all the best,

Barry C. Lynn
lynn@openmarketsinstitute.org