Rory Van Loo's Avatar

Rory Van Loo

@vanloo.bsky.social

Law professor at Boston University focused on digital technologies, consumers, markets, and regulation. Previously consulted at McKinsey after law school, made sandwiches in Paris during college, and sold newspaper subscriptions door-to-door in 5th grade.

7,746 Followers  |  378 Following  |  22 Posts  |  Joined: 21.09.2023  |  1.7937

Latest posts by vanloo.bsky.social on Bluesky

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ANTICOMPETITIVE DIRECTORS - Columbia Law Review β€œThe practice of interlocking directorates is the root of many evils. It offends laws human and divine.” β€” Justice Louis Brandeis. Introduction Antitrust law prohibits competing corporations from shar...

My paper with @vanloo.bsky.social and @lanemiles.bsky.social showing that more than 15% of US companies have potentially illegal interlocking board members is now published in the Columbia Law Review

columbialawreview.org/content/anti...

14.11.2025 19:08 β€” πŸ‘ 56    πŸ” 28    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 2

Link to book: global.oup.com/academic/pro...

09.09.2025 15:36 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Glad to join @jessicasilbey.bsky.social and Woody Hartzog in discussing @rcalo.bsky.social's important new Law & Technology book. Insightful comments, great company, and lots of laughter.

09.09.2025 15:36 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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Overlapping Directors as a Competition Problem Antitrust law prohibits competing corporations from sharing board membersβ€”called β€œinterlocking directorates”—and has for more than a century. ...

Lane Miles, @vanloo.bsky.social, and I have a new blog post in the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance

Overlapping Directors as a Competition Problem,

corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2025/08/29/o...

29.08.2025 17:45 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
ANTICOMPETITIVE DIRECTORS In search of answers for declining competition, antitrust scholars have in recent years devoted considerable attention to a few institutional ownersβ€”such as Bla

My newest empirical study, with Rory Van Loo and Lane Miles, finds that more than 10% of companies in the US share board members with a direct competitor, a per se violation of the antitrust laws

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

17.06.2025 20:32 β€” πŸ‘ 87    πŸ” 31    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 3
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Big Fixes for Big Tech | United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Watch #BULawProf @vanloo.bsky.social testify before the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary today during the "Big Fixes for Big Tech" hearing. Prof. Van Loo will speak before the subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights.

➑️ www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-ac...

01.04.2025 14:39 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Big Fixes for Big Tech | United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Big week for Big Tech antitrust. TODAY, Senate hearing - w @kint.bsky.social, @vanloo.bsky.social, + more - on break 'em up: www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-ac...

Weds @ycombinator.com.web.brid.gy's Little Tech fest w/ @teresaribera.ec.europa.eu + US enforcers: www.linkedin.com/posts/luther...

01.04.2025 12:05 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Big Fixes for Big Tech | United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary

I’m looking forward to testifying tomorrow in the Senate! www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-ac...

31.03.2025 18:28 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Volume 92.2 is now live, featuring pieces by @bdgesq.bsky.social & Aziz Huq; Jonathan Gould & @vanloo.bsky.social; Kathryn Judge & Lev Menand; @stomarova.bsky.social & Brian Richardson; Christina Parajon Skinner; Yesha Yadav & Joshua Younger; and David Zaring. lawreview.uchicago.edu

03.03.2025 14:46 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Jonathan Gould and @vanloo.bsky.social discuss Congress’s capacity to confront future threats. Noting that the playing field is tilted against Congress taking action, they propose mechanisms that Congress should utilize to regulate the risk of major crises when it has the opportunity.

03.03.2025 14:46 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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#BULaw is proud to be tied at #5 for law schools with the highest number of Top 100 Legal Scholars of 2024, with #BULawProf @vanloo.bsky.social at #14, Scott Hirst at #20, and @hartzog.bsky.social at #48.

Learn more ➑️ papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

21.02.2025 15:03 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

CC @tesswilkry.bsky.social @hoffprof.bsky.social @danielschwarcz.bsky.social

24.01.2025 17:30 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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RSVP: Symposium on the First Restatement of Consumer Contracts Join the Harvard Business Law Review, the American Law Institute, and the HLS Program on the Foundation of Private Law on Saturday, January 25th, 2025 at Harvard Law School to hear experts from around...

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

24.01.2025 17:16 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Should be a fun conference tomorrow at Harvard on the state of consumer contract law:

24.01.2025 17:15 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0

I interpret your post to mean that if the conference participants I call on give valuable feedback, I get some credit for improving your paper. Seems reasonable.

24.01.2025 12:30 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

True story. I finished well over 500 distinct books this year outside of work. Here’s how.

1. Made regular trips to the public library to fill my backpack after a quick glance, sometimes with awesome librarian help.
2. Read a few each night to my 5-year-old daughter.

Happy new year!

30.12.2024 12:41 β€” πŸ‘ 25    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

A warm Bluesky welcome to Chinmayi Sharma (@chinmayisharma.bsky.social), who is doing interesting and valuable research on trustworthy AI and other tech law topics.

17.12.2024 14:56 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Yes, reducing unwanted marketing emails should be bipartisan--like stopping robocalls.

13.12.2024 12:04 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

It would be nice on the policy front if Congress/the FTC prevented vendors from harvesting/subscribing customers to marketing emails simply because they’ve made a purchase. Yes, I aggressively use a decoy email for
retail. They worm their way into the main acct anyway (through Apple Pay, etc).

13.12.2024 02:47 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 2

go.bsky.app/AMzLXXk

10.12.2024 21:11 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0

Many thanks to the Southern California Law Review editors for being so fantastic to work with on this, my RAs for the excellent research, and all those who provided feedback, especially Yair Listokin with whom I'll have a follow up article soon.

03.01.2024 13:46 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Delighted to see my inflation article up. It asks whether we should rely so heavily on Fed interest rate hikes, which risks great sacrifice. Another option is to first fight as much inflation as possible through policies that strengthen the economy.

southerncalifornialawreview.com/2023/12/27/i...

03.01.2024 13:43 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

In a heartbreaking year, some bore a heavier burden. I was inspired by those deeply connected to tragic world events who still somehow continued to function, be kind, and give to others. One of my hopes for the coming year is that the world gives them more back.

29.12.2023 13:17 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Applying consumer protection laws "more systematically to Amazon’s price manipulation would make antitrust the least of Amazon’s legal concerns."

20.12.2023 19:33 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

"Amazon regularly buries the lowest-price, high-quality items in lower search results. Consumers choosing the first item, as almost half of all regular customers do, may pay nearly a third more than they would on a lower-priced item with equal ratings." (ssrn.com/abstract=443...)

20.12.2023 19:31 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

A few excerpts: Even if the recent antitrust lawsuit is successful, like most companies, from auto dealers to banks, without monopoly power Amazon could still employ an arsenal of tactics that exploit human psychology to steer consumers toward higher-priced items.

20.12.2023 19:30 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Excited to share something I co-wrote in the Chicago Tribune, reporting findings suggesting that Amazon buries the best deals low in search results.

(w/ Nikita Aggarwal) www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/comm...

20.12.2023 19:30 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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A warm welcome to my tech colleague and friend Ngozi Okidegbe, who just joined Bluesky!

@ngoziokidegbe.bsky.social

www.bu.edu/law/profile/...

16.11.2023 13:06 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Hooray! Super easy case of course.

11.11.2023 10:08 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

@vanloo is following 19 prominent accounts