Regulatory Capture
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What it is
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A situation where an industry becomes concentrated enough that it can effectively control the regulatory and lobbying agenda meant to constrain it — securing favorable laws and blocking unfavorable ones.
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Intuition
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With only a handful of players left, they no longer need to fight each other over policy — they can agree on what they want from government and get it, since there's no fragmented competition to lobby against them.
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How it works
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Weak antitrust enforcement lets a sector consolidate into a few dominant firms.
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With few players, consensus on shared lobbying priorities becomes easy.
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These firms push for laws protecting their position and against laws that would constrain them.
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The result is regulation that looks like consumer protection but entrenches the dominant firms.
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Example
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The article argues this is why the U.S. has no comprehensive federal privacy law — the firms most affected by such a law are concentrated enough to successfully lobby against it.
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