Justice Department Antitrust Chief Makan Delrahim: Supreme Court ruling won't shield Big Tech

Justice Department Antitrust Chief Makan Delrahim said that he doesn't think the Supreme Court's American Express ruling would make it more difficult to take on the biggest online platforms over competition concerns. 

Critics of large tech companies worry the ruling providers might offer Silicon Valley companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon and Uber protection from antitrust prosecution because they use so-called two-sided marketplaces to connect parties, such as buyers and sellers. Delrahim said he saw the ruling as a "sound decision" overall. "I was more worried the Supreme Court would come up with a test [that would] cause harm to new business models like Uber and Airbnb," he said, adding that would have been a greater hardship to the economy than just losing this case. "I think to the extent that it creates that transaction and you bring in third party sellers and buyers, they could benefit from that, but not in other areas of their business," he said. Delrahim did say he thought that the ruling could limit antitrust enforcers' ability to take on Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb, but would not protect the companies in the case of criminal behavior, like price fixing.

[see also The Supreme Court decision Silicon Valley is reading]