Government Planning Didn't Create Smartphone, Ohlhausen Says, Likening Antitrust Role to an Umpire

"Government planning" didn't "create" the smartphone, and government doesn't "create or drive competition," but "provides a framework" for it to "thrive," acting FTC Chair Maureen Ohlhausen said in prepared remarks to a Fordham Competition Law Institute event Friday. On "the role of a government antitrust agency, I agree with the description of our role as an umpire. ... We should make sure that the sides are not agreeing to shave points, prevent better players from playing, colluding, or combining teams to undermine the nature of the contest." She cited the FTC's challenging this year of the combination of top-two daily fantasy sports sites DraftKings and FanDuel, "where market dynamics suggested a substantial risk to competition." With "competition-driven innovation" resulting in smartphones, which displaced cellphones that had displaced landlines, something "will one day displace the smartphone," Ohlhausen predicted.