A US anti-corruption organisation wants an investigation into the decision to abruptly end the probe into a merger between Fox and streaming company Roku – shortly after a sizeable donation to US first lady Melania Trump.

The American Economic Liberties Project on Monday local time called on the US Congress and state attorneys general to investigate the decision by President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice.

The DOJ on the weekend announced that it was “unlikely” that a Fox-Roku merger would pose “a substantial risk of harm to competition” in the TV streaming market.

The department also said it was satisfied with Fox’s pledge that Roku would remain “an open and neutral content partner”.

The AELP pointed out that the DOJ’s decision to end its investigation came just weeks after Fox made a US$1 million ($1.4 million) contribution to Melania Trump’s “Fostering the Future” initiative – a scholarship program aimed at helping foster children attend college.

“It should set off every alarm bell that the Fox Corporation is giving any money to the first lady’s foster care initiative during the Justice Department’s review of its Roku deal,” Lee Hepner, senior legal counsel at the AELP, said.

“This is part of a documented pattern where big media corporations curry favour with the administration via donations and promises of favourable coverage, and then deals get done.”

Hepner said the DOJ’s decision to sign off on the deal was part of a broader pattern of corporate consolidation and corruption in the second Trump administration.

“The next Congress has a responsibility to take these sorts of transactions seriously and root out the blatant corruption that has allowed America to turn into an oligarchy, where power keeps getting consolidated at a remarkable rate,” he said.

It was initially reported that the DOJ would approve the Fox-Roku merger under a consent decree, instead signing off  “with a simple affirmative press statement outlining commitments from Fox, several of which expire in just three years, and leaving the conditions without any judicial enforcement mechanism attached,” AELP said.

Launched in 2020, the AELP is a US non-profit organisation that advocates for corporate accountability legislation and aggressive enforcement of antitrust regulations. 

Melania Trump established Fostering the Future in 2021 as part of her Be Best initiative.

The scheme sets out to secure scholarship opportunities at colleges and universities for individuals within the foster care community.

More than 20 US universities participate in the program and the White House on the weekend announced that a total of US$7.2 million ($10.4 million) had been secured to establish a permanent endowment fund at Louisiana State University.

“A great education does more than prepare someone for work life.  It gives something no one can ever take away. There is nothing more powerful we can give a young person than a world-class education,” Trump was quoted as saying.

Republished from Common Dreams