The FTC’s new chair, Lina Khan, wants to drastically shake up antitrust enforcement in the U.S., by taking into account the interests of “workers and independent businesses as well as consumers,” she outlined in a memo made public this week. Over in Europe, antitrust czar Margrethe Vestager, no stranger to vigorous antitrust enforcement, is tackling something that actually matters to consumers: incompatible phone chargers.
The European Commission today proposed legislation to make USB-C the “standard port for all smartphones, tablets, cameras, headphones, portable speakers and handheld videogame consoles.” As Vestager said, “European consumers were frustrated long enough about incompatible chargers piling up in their drawers.” Not only Europeans. It’s hard to imagine there’s any household in America that doesn’t have a cabinet full of useless chargers, left over as devices evolved and new standards came along.
