#GamerGate: Game Journo Pros Blacklist/Boycott May Have Breached Antitrust Laws

One Angry Gamer "Recently there was a report on the alleged blacklisting of game industry professional Kevin Dent. Dent has been involved in a number of business ventures throughout the interactive entertainment industry, but ended up on the bad side of the media when he made comments certain journalists deemed “sexist” and “creepy”."

[Dark_Overlord]

Good, these scumbags have been pulling this crap for way too long, I hope the FTC? come down hard on them.

[WilliamUsher]

People would definitely need to notify the FTC first.

I find it funny that none of them have had anything to say about this and could have very well avoided all of this by being honest about what was really going on way back in August.

[Dee_91]

Trust, people contacted advertisers, they will contact the FTC
ugh, if only journalistic ethics had some type of penalties like the FTC because apparently they don't think they are competitors that has "market power"
"“Any company may, on its own, refuse to do business with another firm, but an agreement among competitors not to do business with targeted individuals or businesses may be an illegal boycott, especially if the group of competitors working together has market power.”
Someone should print that out and tape it to gjp members forehead.

[3-4-5]

All people want is the truth, the whole truth, and NOTHING BUT the truth.

* Hopefully we finally get some facts out of this.

[rainslacker]

I don't think what these game sites did falls under anti-trust because the gaming sites aren't actually selling the games. I don't know if competing websites fall under that category. There was something similar that happened in 2010 with regular journalism, but not sure what the legal ramifications were, I think it was mostly an ethical scandal.

It's possible though, that some of the people that work for these sites, like certain editors or reporters or even heads of the the companies that own them, have some kind of interest in competing products, which could put it under anti-trust laws, but likely only on an individual level.

[WilliamUsher]

Well, there are antitrust examples relating to media entertainment to fit exactly what happened here.

From the Justice Department website.
"I want to emphasize that one of the fundamental principles underlying all Section 2 analysis is that the mere possession of monopoly power does not violate Section 2. Instead, the statute applies only to monopolies that are acquired or maintained by virtue of a firm's unreasonably exclusionary conduct."

http://www.justice.gov/atr/...

[rainslacker]

I'm not really sure how that pertains to print media outlets who aren't actually selling the product.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like all the collusion, and think that kind of thing should be illegal, but the US also has freedom of the press laws, which actually do have limitations. I don't know how it all falls under anti-trust though.

[WilliamUsher]

It's antitrust because the major media powers are manipulating the market through the private GJP e-mail list.

Collusion to sway the market can be viewed as illegal depending on what the courts say.

It doesn't matter if people don't think it's not important, the major media publications colluding in private to determine career hirings, firings and blacklisting is considered an antitrust violation when those sites have enough power to sway the market.

It's hard to argue that sites like Kotaku, Polygon, Ars Technica and Gamasutra don't have power, given that their collective publishing of "Gamers Are Dead" articles helped push GamerGate into mainstream media under a false narrative.

Not really sure what else I can say to hammer the point home other than that corrupt journos used their major media platforms to push lies by colluding, and they have used their private collusion to blacklist and fire people. Those are usually deemed illegal under the antitrust laws linked all throughout the article.

EDIT: It should also be noted that media coverage of products can help products sell or bomb, so major journalists blacklisiting one product while promoting a competing product on purpose is also an antitrust violation. There are even videos on this on the FTC's YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/use...

[rainslacker]

I didn't mean to imply that they don't have power, nor did I mean to imply that they weren't colluding and obviously doing something highly unethical, and possibly illegal in some way, I just wasn't sure how that falls under anti-trust since the print media aren't the ones selling the product that they're trying to control.

I'm not saying it does not fall under anti-trust laws, and I picked up on that "Collusion to sway the market" part in the article and first thought that may be important, but just reflecting on it, I question if it would fall under anti-trust due to them not being the ones selling the product...which is really the only place I question if the article's assertion may be correct, and to be fair, I don't mean to dismiss the possibility out of hand.

Anyhow, I really haven't had a lot of time to look into what happened with the JournoPros list back in 2010, nor do any further look into anti-trust laws so I didn't mean to cause any contention.

I appreciate you trying to clarify and I'll consider what you say when looking further into it. I also agree that it doesn't matter what people think in general in this regard, just what the FTC and ultimately the court feel is relevant to the case.

[00]

I hope the feds come down hard, these arrogant people need to be knocked back down to reality.

[CaptainObvious878]

I'm surprised this article wasn't submitted by darkride, since he/she is actively trying to find positive GG articles.

Ahh, but I mistaken. This is just another example of how GG is a hate group full of harassers that try to hold up entities to actual moral and legal standards.

/s

If this turns out to be true I really hope justice is served. The unaccountability has gone on long enough.

[rainslacker]

This article isn't claiming that the FTC is investigating, just saying that what happened my have breached anti-trust laws.

I'm personally not sure if these sites fall under trust laws though, since they aren't selling the product they report on, so it may be a tricky issue.

[Spotie]

They are, however, selling their services in reporting on said products. Even if we don't directly buy from them, they still generate revenue through us; like magazines and newspapers, they sell their content.

It would violate anti-trust laws if the big papers got together and decided to blacklist an individual or business.

[rainslacker]

True, but they aren't selling that product to the actual consumers. I'm just skeptical that the media can fall under anti-trust laws, but there may be other laws involved. I know in 2010, the mainstream press was caught up in a scandal which was exactly the same thing that happened with GJP, but doing quick research couldn't find me any kind of criminal proceedings that were filed.

[GokuSolosAll]

Justice shall prevail.

[Dee_91]

we are the true SJW's lol

[LightDiego]

I hope so, that would be great, now i want to see the reactions of these arrogant journalists.
GamerGate means protect gaming, our hobby, and the industry itself.