The ONLY purpose of monopoly laws is as a consumer protection. No, it's about protecting the marketplace. Consumer protection is a second order effect. Here's

The ONLY purpose of monopoly laws is as a consumer protection. No, it's about protecting the marketplace. Consumer protection is a second order effect. Here's a quote from the U.S. Supreme Court with respect to the Sherman Act: The purpose of the [Sherman] Act is not to protect businesses from the working of the market; it is to protect the public from the failure of the market. The law directs itself not against conduct which is competitive, even severely so, but against conduct which unfairly tends to destroy competition itself. As you can see, the court concluded that anti-trust law is about policing market failures, and specifically about the destruction of competition.