Washington, D.C. — In response to news that the Department of Justice Antitrust Division has given approval to the proposed merger of Getty and Shutterstock, the top two largest global stock image and video providers, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“This merger between the top two players in the global stock imagery and video market is an attack on labor. It’s an attempt to force lower royalties and fewer choices for the photographers and videographers who supply the content for these gatekeepers. The DOJ saw this dynamic and refused to enforce laws designed to protect fair competition,” said Nidhi Hegde, Executive Director at the American Economic Liberties Project. “This clearance fits a disturbing pattern at this DOJ. We saw it with Compass-Anywhere and with HPE-Juniper. And now we see it again here—a deal that should have raised serious red flags was cleared without so much as a single condition. The Antitrust Division is not enforcing the law. It is managing the paperwork for a merger wave.”

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; international trade arrangements that promote balanced trade and benefit workers, farmers and small businesses; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.