For the most part the "free market" is defined badly. Some people think that "free market" is a synonym for "anarchy" and implies that there is a total lack of government regulation. But that is not so, in anarchy you can't have a free market because neither buyers nor sellers could enforce contracts. A free market requires functioning government. You can't do business in an efficient manner if you can't enforce contracts. The flipside is that many regulations can cause market failures. If government regulations create barriers to entry and many are designed to do just that, then that reduces competition and can lead to market failures like monopoly.