Washington's tech landscape has been reshaped by a whirlwind of political change, regulatory reversals, and an AI gold rush. President Trump's takeover of the Federal Trade Commission is seeking to combat "tech censorship," while the Defense Department's $1.8 billion AI investment has contractors racing to capitalize on the government's artificial-intelligence ambitions-even as some industry giants face federal scrutiny. The AI industry has been busy lobbying Congress to set an innovation-first agenda, with lighter regulations versus restrictive oversight. But some company heads are calling for guardrails.
With Dish Network owner EchoStar selling $23 billion in valuable spectrum to AT&T, any pretense that the TV provider will become a serious wireless competitor is dead. But the project was always doomed to fail, and despite plenty of assurances by the Trump administration and other companies involved, the very obvious writing was always on the wall. Back in 2020, the first Trump administration rubber-stamped T-Mobile's $26 billion merger with Sprint.
By all indications there is very little appetite for antitrust enforcement from the DOJ, Francis X. Riley, a partner at Saul Ewing LLP., said. They just aren't doing anything. They are letting these mergers go through with limited investigations or limited exchange of information, and this sheds light on the fact that the DOJ is not going to be active in antitrust enforcement actions.
"Despite the threats, the EU has pressed ahead with enforcement of its digital antitrust rules, with recent fines against Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. of 500 million and 200 million respectively."
