The Monopoly Report – Episode 59

Guest: FTC Commissioner Mark Meador
Host: Alan Chapell
Date: December 17, 2025
Topic: Digital Media Regulation and the Future of Antitrust

Episode Overview

In this episode, host Alan Chapell welcomes FTC Commissioner Mark Meador for a substantive discussion on the Federal Trade Commission’s priorities, the evolution of antitrust thinking, and regulatory challenges in digital media and ad tech. Meador offers an inside look at the FTC’s current approach, emphasizing consumer protection, competition policy, and the complexities of regulating Big Tech in a rapidly evolving landscape. The conversation touches on privacy with a focus on children, the shift from the Chicago School of antitrust, the FTC’s investigative tools, and Meador's personal perspective as a regulator.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

FTC Priorities for 2026: Privacy, Consumer Protection, and Kitchen Table Issues

• Mission Reframed
  Meador contextualizes the FTC’s work within the administration's broader goal to "make life easier for the average American citizen," with a priority on addressing affordability and consumer protection.

  “I like to talk about how we should be focusing on kitchen table issues, the things that affect your typical household…” (04:10 – Meador)

• Digital Parenting – A Personal Perspective
  Meador describes managing online access for his seven children, tying family experience to agency focus and the growing need for government support for parents facing tech giants.

  “You often find yourself staring in the face of, you know, trillion dollar companies that have just immense amounts of power. And that's a lot to ask of... one family…” (05:29 – Meador)

• Tangible vs. Ethereal Harms
  The FTC is doubling down on combatting real, everyday consumer harms instead of less concrete dangers:

  “We’re not looking to stretch the bounds of the law. I think the law that we have on the books covers a lot of practical, everyday harms...” (06:34 – Meador)

Antitrust: New Conservative Thought & the Post-Chicago School Era

• From Under-Enforcement to Decisive Action
  Meador acknowledges historical bipartisan under-enforcement of antitrust laws, agreeing there’s a shared consensus that more action is needed, but the method matters:

  “We’ve had some under enforcement on a bipartisan basis for several decades... but taking a different approach as to how we should address it.” (07:01 – Meador)

• Bork and the Chicago School Reconsidered
  Meador critiques assumptions inherited from the Chicago School, notably that government overreach is the main threat, and argues that too much judicial humility led to insufficient application of antitrust law:

  “…instead of enforcing the law as it was written... that balance was lost and we kind of overcorrected...” (08:58 – Meador)

• Structural Remedies and ‘Unscrambling the Egg’
  Meador uses the “unscrambling the egg” analogy to illustrate why early antitrust intervention is vital and why unwinding established monopolies is nearly impossible:

  “…once two companies merge and integrate their operations... it’s almost impossible to undo that and the harm has really been done.” (11:23 – Meador)

Child Protection, Chatbot Studies, and Section 6B

• Existing Laws and Proactive Enforcement
  FTC wields Section 5 and COPPA to protect children, but also sees value in using Section 6B authority for market studies, such as the ongoing 6B study on chatbots’ impact on children:

  “The best thing we can do is enforce those laws... we have this thing called a 6B... we can actually get documents and testimony information from companies...” (13:24 – Meador)

• 6B Studies Informing Congress and Global Regulators
  6B studies are non-enforcement investigations that yield public reports for legislators and global regulators:

  "It's not to be used for law enforcement purposes. It is to allow our lawyers and economists to gain a better understanding of the market." (15:07 – Meador)

• Children's Interactions with Chatbots
  The 6B study is primarily concerned with how chatbots affect children, reflecting top concerns in online safety regulation:

  "Kids interactions with chatbots has really been attracting a lot of the attention and concern.” (16:54 – Meador)

Learning from Past FTCs, AI, and Deceptive Practices

• Merger Retrospectives: Learning from Past Mistakes
  Meador discusses using retrospective analysis to inform future antitrust enforcement:

  “One of the things we talk about a lot are merger retrospectives… did it actually work out well in that industry, that sort of analysis can be extremely informative…” (17:49 – Meador)

• AI ‘Washing’ and Enforcement Consistency
  The FTC applies existing deception standards to AI claims—no special rules, just “plain old deception.”

  “We’re enforcing the law the exact same way in the AI space that we do in every other industry...” (19:17 – Meador)

Section 230 and Platform Accountability

• Section 230 Not Central Yet, But in View
  While Section 230 is a key structural issue in tech, Meador notes it's so far tangential to FTC enforcement but acknowledges its growing relevance.

  "It hasn't played a massive role. I don't want to get ahead... but it's certainly on our radar..." (20:12 – Meador)

Regulatory Philosophy: From Law to Policy to Politics

• Policy as Practice
  Meador draws on his experience across agencies and the Hill to stress principled, sustainable enforcement:

  “...accomplishing the right things is not enough, that you have to actually know how to do them and do them in a principled way.” (21:00 – Meador)

• The ‘Bully Pulpit’ and Its Limits
  The non-chair commissioner role allows for public advocacy, but Meador stresses that lawsuits must be principled, not just rhetorical.

  “When we bring a lawsuit, you're talking about real people's businesses... You want to make sure that you're doing it in a legitimate and principled way...” (22:20 – Meador)

Remedies, Unintended Consequences, & Enforcement Strategy

• Remedies and Unintended Outcomes
  Meador underscores the challenge of crafting antitrust remedies, including industry notice and comment, and the risk of fixing one problem but creating more.

  "Those issues are always top of mind. You don't want to solve one problem and create two more." (23:18 – Meador)

• Enforcement Strategy and Wide Aperture
  Effective antitrust enforcement is strategic and flexible, requiring an intentional focus and openness to uncovering unforeseen market issues.

  "You need to have an intentional and deliberate law enforcement strategy." (24:55 – Meador)

• Merger Monitoring Bandwidth
  The agency’s capacity to monitor an increasing number of mergers is largely a function of staff expertise, screening, and prioritization.

  “First and foremost, we are fortunate to have incredibly talented and hardworking staff at both agencies who review all of the filings…” (26:44 – Meador)

Gatekeeper Power, Competition Law, and Consumer Choice

• From Self-Policing to Competition Concerns
  Meador reflects on the shifting regulatory view from encouraging platform self-policing toward concerns about gatekeepers and consumer choice, especially in app stores:

  “When you have a very small number of competitors... and they’re all ideologically aligned... you have this uniformity of viewpoint policing that is almost insurmountable.” (28:13 – Meador)

• Market ‘Exit’ Isn’t Real Choice
  The rise of deplatforming and network effects means “build your own” hardly suffices as a remedy for lack of choice.

  “But then we've seen that even if somebody like a Parler did build their own, they could be deplatformed... It's difficult to see how there is any meaningful consumer choice.” (30:21 – Meador)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Big Tech’s Power Dynamics:

  "[Big Tech issues]... are kitchen table issues. Those are the things that families and individuals do worry about on a daily basis."
  (04:10 – Meador)

• On Intervention Timing:

  “This is why we need early and decisive intervention by antitrust enforcers... we can find ourselves in a situation where we know we have a monopolist... and fixing that is really difficult at that point.”
  (12:14 – Meador)

• On Children’s Data:

  "We shouldn’t be viewing our American children as a source of data to be monetized, but as a population to be protected..."
  (31:30 – Meador)

• On the Limits of Consumer Choice:

  “...with the tech companies, they act so uniformly on many of these issues... you can't even build your own then. And so it's difficult to see how there is any meaningful consumer choice.”
  (30:21 – Meador)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [04:04] FTC mission & kitchen table issues
• [05:04] Parenting, privacy, and digital media from a personal lens
• [06:34] Tangible vs. ethereal harms – enforcement focus
• [07:01] Antitrust enforcement strategy – new conservative thought
• [08:58] Critique of Chicago School – restoring antitrust balance
• [11:23] The challenge of “unscrambling the egg” in antitrust
• [13:24] Section 5, COPPA, and new 6B study on chatbots
• [15:07] 6B study mechanics and legislative influence
• [16:54] Chatbots & children focus in current FTC studies
• [17:49] Learning from merger retrospectives
• [19:17] FTC’s approach to AI and deceptive marketing
• [20:12] Section 230’s tangential relevance
• [21:00] Policy, law, and political context in regulation
• [22:20] FTC's bully pulpit vs. enforcement actions
• [23:18] Remedies and unintended consequences in antitrust
• [24:55] Enforcement strategy and merger investigations
• [26:44] Managing merger monitoring bandwidth
• [28:13] The downside of gatekeeper self-policing & platform dominance
• [31:30] Protecting children’s data and privacy as a core business responsibility

Final Takeaways

• The FTC under Meador’s guidance is targeting tangible consumer harms, with a special focus on digital environments, children’s privacy, and effective antitrust enforcement.
• There’s a philosophical shift underway, questioning decades of conservative reticence on government intervention and seeking a more balanced approach to monopoly power.
• Early, strategic intervention is key to preventing irreversible consolidations in tech.
• The regulatory landscape is shaped as much by retrospective learning and policymaker education (via 6B studies or otherwise) as by live enforcement cases.
• There’s broad consensus that today’s tech platforms wield excessive gatekeeping power; true consumer choice remains elusive, and current antitrust remedies face formidable headwinds.

For Digital Media/Ad Tech Leaders:
Focus on tangible consumer impacts, especially regarding minors’ data. Stay alert to both antitrust and privacy scrutiny, and participate in ongoing policy and industry feedback opportunities—especially on age verification and responsible innovation.

Memorable Moment:
FTC will hold a conference on age verification on January 28th, 2026—likely to shape next steps in policy and enforcement in this space.
(32:58 – Meador)

This summary captures the core ideas and expert commentary in the conversation, providing essential insights for digital media and antitrust professionals who want to understand the evolving regulatory horizon.