Hypocrisy: Rupert Murdoch Has Always Hated Antitrust; But Now He Wants It Used Against Internet Companies Who Out Innovated Him

from the the-cronyiest-of-capitalists dept

It's no secret that Rupert Murdoch is an extreme hypocrite. He spent decades railing against any kind of regulatory powers to hold back companies, but as soon as his own attempts to build an internet empire flopped dramatically, he's come around to being a major booster of regulatory crackdowns. Just only against the companies who out-innovated him. For years now he's been demanding that governments force the internet companies to pay him money -- a move that has been successful in his home country of Australia.

The latest is that Murdoch, who built his business empire by buying up competitors and doing everything possible to avoid antitrust authorities, is now a major force behind supporting antitrust efforts -- so long as they're aimed at the internet companies. When the Democrats released their 5 antitrust proposals last week, each one (perhaps somewhat surprisingly) had a Republican co-sponsor. That appears to have been thanks to Murdoch:

Fox Corp. and News Corp. lobbyists have been urging GOP members to support the bills this week, according to people familiar with the efforts, with two sources saying there could be as many as 3 to 4 GOP co-sponsors on each bill. Talks are ongoing....

Say what you want about Rupert Murdoch, but the idea that he's a free marketer and against regulations is nonsense. That was only true when the regulations involved his companies. Now that he's failed to innovate, he's spent the last decade demanding that governments punish the companies who actually competed better than he did. He's the cronyist of the crony capitalists.

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Filed Under: antitrust, competition, congress, innovation, rupert murdoch
Companies: news corp.


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  1. icon
    rangda (profile), 14 Jun 2021 @ 11:05am

    clearly you are confused

    Murdoch was never against anti-trust regulation. He was (and is) against anything that prevents him from having "all the monies". If antitrust regulation stops him from having giant bags of money then he is against that. If competitors stop him from having giant bags of money then he is against his competitors.

    This is not hard to understand.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    ECA (profile), 14 Jun 2021 @ 11:40am

    Re: clearly you are confused

    So,
    Taking over certain types of business in a restricted area, isnt?
    Not just cornering a market, but doing anything to keep competitors Out of his area Isnt?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    That One Guy (profile), 14 Jun 2021 @ 12:04pm

    Now that I don't need this ladder any more...

    Gotta love how quickly 'let the market decide!' and 'regulations are government tyranny!' people can switch to supporting as much 'government tyranny' as possible as soon as it applies to someone else.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Jun 2021 @ 12:07pm

    Re: Re: clearly you are confused

    Joke (Noun): Something that goes over ECA's head.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Bloof (profile), 14 Jun 2021 @ 1:39pm

    Rupert Murdoch is also against socialism, while pushing for laws in Australia so more successful companies are forced by the government to give his media empire free money.

    Rupert Murdoch is against socialised medicine, yet bolted to the UK the moment the Covid Vaccine was made available to his agegroup, shot to the head of the line thanks to his political connections, getting the vaccine before the Queen.

    Rupert Murdoch is happy to push antivax BS, yet... See above.

    Rupert Murdoch has built his fortune on decrying others as sex offenders and criminals while defending criminals and sex offenders if they make him money or agree with him politically and are still of use.

    Rupert Murdoch is a hypocrite and a cancer on western civilisation. Decades after his death, we will still be working out the true extent of the damage his malignant influence has done to the world.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Jun 2021 @ 1:40pm

    I hate pranks and the idiots who commit them. I thinks pranks should be a capital offense.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. icon
    Samuel Abram (profile), 14 Jun 2021 @ 1:42pm

    Re:

    And the only good things that Rupert Murdoch ever did were sold to Disney.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. icon
    sumgai (profile), 14 Jun 2021 @ 1:56pm

    Re:

    Are you going somewhere with that statement, or did did you slip out of your wrangler's grasp in the wrong thread? You're this close to earning a Abuse/Spam/Troll click, but I'd thought I'd be nice and ask first.....

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Jun 2021 @ 2:23pm

    Re:

    I suspect the above (OP) comment to be a prank

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Bobvious, 14 Jun 2021 @ 2:38pm

    Re: I thinks pranks should be a capital offense

    Oh, you mean like the CAPITOL offense of January 6th?

    That was just a prank according to some supporters of the orange one.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. icon
    Samuel Abram (profile), 14 Jun 2021 @ 3:30pm

    Re:

    I, um, think you meant to post that here.

    Have a good day.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Jun 2021 @ 5:16pm

    ...

    I'm sorry, you mentioned Murdoch so I just quit listening and assumed it's some sort of madness/craziness, so there's not really anything to understand about ...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. icon
    Toom1275 (profile), 14 Jun 2021 @ 6:16pm

    "Liberal censorship" was the lie that Ailes made FOX to address.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Jun 2021 @ 8:22pm

    How do you define "extreme hypocrite" as opposed to "garden variety hypocrite"?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Jun 2021 @ 8:28pm

    Re: Re: Re: clearly you are confused

    At one end of the extreme, there are a few ultra-rich people like Murdock. At the other end of the extreme, there are many poor people without the ability to even fight people like Murdock. Catering to only the rich people is wrong, catering to only the poor people is wrong. Where is the middle?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Jun 2021 @ 10:30pm

    I'm on to you, bitch!

    Clearly you are confused. He doesn't want anyone to know, and the fact that you are still alive tells me you are clearly a plant by Rupert Murdoch.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. icon
    ECA (profile), 15 Jun 2021 @ 1:06am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: clearly you are confused

    Part of that is simple.
    Lots of people together can FIRE their political rep's.
    Dump their wages. Take away those benefits.
    Just as any corp does to its own employees. Rep's are EMPLOYEES.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. icon
    sumgai (profile), 15 Jun 2021 @ 8:32am

    Re:

    The 'garden variety' will eventually wander off into the sunset, mumbling about people who fail to "get it". The 'extreme' class will continue to double down until you become innurred to the bullshit and walk way, mumbling about batshit-crazy ass-hats.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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