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DC AG Racine Says Fighting Big Tech Is Like David vs Goliath


Washington, DC Attorney General Karl Racine speaks after a news conference before the US Supreme Court on September 9, 2019 in Washington, DC.

Alex Wong

During his battle with Big Tech, the District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine considered his office the bad guy.

“In a practical way, when you approach technology, it’s David versus Goliath,” Racine said in a recent interview with CNBC at his office. “That means you have to be meticulous, research and precise. And be willing to go the distance.”

Racine, who is currently in his final year in office after announcing that he will not seek re-electiondemonstrated his determination in the lawsuits he brought against companies including Amazon, Facebook, Googleand Grubhub. However, his office has seen a number of different actions against Amazon and Facebook owner Meta in recent months.

But Racine said his office plans to handle each of those cases and ask the court to reconsider. He said he wasn’t surprised that tech companies would hire the most experienced attorneys to assist them and engage in a process that “crushes smaller players and plaintiffs.” And, he said, he believes the courts, with a little extra explanation of the details of their cases, will work things out.

“We’re ready to take on that David role,” Racine said. “And after all, I think, David won.”

The role of state representative organizations

(LR) Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine (L) speaks as Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton listen during a news conference before the U.S. Supreme Court on May 9. September 2019 in Washington, DC.

Alex Wong

Racine, the first independently elected attorney general in DC, considers the role of state AGs particularly important given Congress’ ability to act slowly.

When he was first elected in 2014, he didn’t expect taking on the tech industry to be the big pillar of his job it is today. But he quickly realized his office was uniquely positioned for the job.

“We know that the state AG, including our office, has a role to play because we are well aware of the conflict,” said Racine, who was also recently president of the National Bar Association. paralysis of Congress and increasing concentration of power”. .

Congress is currently considering a competition bills targeting the technology industry can pose serious challenges to the business models of such companies. But disagreement over the bill’s finer points, lobbying by major Tech companies and other congressional priorities including Russia’s war in Ukraine have kept it from becoming law.

The state’s attorney general “has the ability to act in a way that provides an opportunity for companies to fix the problem immediately,” Racine said. “Or we can take the matter to court, where there isn’t any public lobbying etc and we have the enforcement tools needed to call a company to account. “

Although Congress has seen its technology efforts stalled by partisan and partisan controversies, the states’ AGs have demonstrated broad unanimity on issues. Major technology issues and lawsuits, such as the antitrust lawsuits against Facebook and Google, involve the vast majority of state enforcement agencies.

Racine considers the association with close law offices possible with their members.

“The state attorney generals are the people’s attorneys,” he said. “And in acting as the people’s attorney, they are doing their best. And they do their best by being forthright, engaging, and listening to the people in their jurisdictions. “

While writing new legislation has been a slow process, Racine admits that the same goes for filing a lawsuit. However, he said, deterrence could be a more important and immediate outcome in the work of the state AG.

“The opportunity for companies to do the right thing is to look closely at what can happen with a lawsuit, determine if they are actually wrong, and ask them to take action. under the law, The whole process is a process that is often not seen in public, that is also underrated,” he said.

Racine has scored a number of wins against the tech industry. He pointed to a alphabet he sent to Facebook along with several other state representatives in the days following the January 6 uprising on the US Capitol, urging the platform to remove targeted ads about military tactical equipment. weapons and accessories until after the inauguration. A day later, Facebook compliance.

In some cases, Racine’s office went so far as to file lawsuits against tech companies, he reached agreements that resulted in compensation for affected County residents.

DoorDashfor example, agreed to Settlement of $ 2.5 million in 2020 against accusations it misled consumers about how it would allocate tips to workers. That deal came just weeks after the company applied to list shares. Of that total, $1.5 million was paid for relief for delivery workers, $750,000 to the District, and $250,000 to two local charities.

More recently, Racine’s office bring a lawsuit against Grubhub, which alleges the company used misleading marketing tactics, including deceiving consumers about how their purchases would benefit small modern-day restaurants. Translate. Grubhub has denied violating County law and has pledged to protect its activities.

The failure of the lawsuit

The DC attorney general’s office has recently seen a number of setbacks in some of its major tech cases.

First, a federal judge last summer launched a multi-level lawsuit against Facebook alleging an illegal monopoly. Then, earlier this month, a District judge denied Racine’s request to add Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg as a named defendant in a consumer protection lawsuit stemming from the scandal. Cambridge Analytica scandal. Soon after, another judge brought up the lawsuit Racine filed against Amazon, believed to be the government’s first antitrust lawsuit against the company.

Despite the series of beatings, Racine said he remained confident in court.

“I think it’s really important for us to come up with clear facts and then really educate the court about the law,” he said.

Part of that may simply be the function of making more cases under existing statutes.

“To be honest with you, there’s not a lot of antitrust cases in the District of Columbia,” Racine said. His lawsuit against Amazon, for example, was brought under the District’s antitrust statute. “And in a practical way, the courts are now looking at these cases for the first time. And I think it takes a bit of learning… to familiarize the courts with the legal principles that courts don’t. interact with. on a regular basis.”

His office plans to ask the court to review the case against Amazon. Racine notes that a federal judge in Seattle allowed similar claims to continue just a few days before the district court ruled to the contrary.

Amazon did not provide a comment.

The coalition of states seeking to sue Facebook on antitrust grounds is appealing a federal judge’s dismissal of their case. The judge in that case said the states waited an unusually long time to bring charges after Facebook acquired Instagram and WhatsApp years earlier. Under federal antitrust law, both federal and state enforcement agencies are empowered to bring statute cases and reserve the right to object to mergers long after they have been closed.

In the case of the Cambridge Analytica case, another judge also said AG’s office waited too long to add Zuckerberg’s name to the lawsuit. Judge Maurice Ross of the Supreme Court for the District of Columbia criticized AG’s office for waiting so long to name Zuckerberg, saying that much of the information needed to do so was already available. He questioned the value to consumers of naming the CEO accordingly.

“The submission of further petitions to reopen the discovery comes less than three months after agreeing on a final schedule for the discovery of the near-bad,” the judge said. , according to the court transcript of the hearing. “And so for the timing, there’s no prejudice against DC because the relief they can get is the same. The only thing it does is divert attention from the company to an individual. .”

But Racine thinks his office needs to gather more evidence from the company before it can feel strongly that it can hold the CEO accountable for the alleged violation of consumer protection laws. He said Facebook’s slowness in disclosing evidence contributed to the time it took for his office to determine that it had information illustrating that conclusion.

Facebook did not provide a comment.

“We are currently contemplating bringing a separate lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg, which is still in effect, because we believe the evidence suggests that Mr. Zuckerberg was closely related,” Racine said. to misrepresentations around protecting user privacy,” Racine said.

At the federal level, he said it makes perfect sense for Congress to seek to update federal antitrust laws to clarify how the tech industry is subject to those laws.

“Congress now has the facts to better regulate causes of action and antitrust measures, in line with what we are seeing on the internet,” he said.

What’s next?

Racine said his choice not to run for re-election was a “deeply personal” one, adding that he now has a baby boy to take care of. He would not rule out another time in government but said it was not his “first look” at the moment.

He said that as a Haitian American, he would be particularly interested in opportunities that would allow him to help with issues in Haiti. He said he was also exploring other options, including in the private sector.

Racine said he hopes his successor will “continue to stand up for DC residents, including most of us, who use technology.” He is authentication Brian Schwalb, office partner at law firm Venable’s DC. Racine worked with Schwalb at the company before he became AG.

“It’s important for us to examine and balance how technology interacts with our lives, how it treats people, both fair and unfair, and promotes it by using “That’s always been the People’s Attorney’s role and I really hope and believe the next Attorney General,” said Racine, using the law to be a better corporate citizen. will continue that war.”

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