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> But Facebook, despite being a monopoly or nearly so, isn't either of these. It makes no sense to speak of breaking Facebook up -- what does that even look lik
by Chaebixi 9y ago
> But Facebook, despite being a monopoly or nearly so, isn't either of these. It makes no sense to speak of breaking Facebook up -- what does that even look like? Each if the Baby Books gets 1/20th of the users?
I think you answered your own question: one way is you divide it into N successors with 1/N of the users, and mandate that they integrate with each other (and new players) over an open and interoperable standard. Whatever's done, the key part is the interoperability mandate.
- tboyd47 9y agoI feel like dividing the company wouldn't even be necessary with an interop mandate. Software doesn't require any capital to build except time. Competitors would naturally start appearing, probably in a matter of months.
- Chaebixi 9y agoLike I said in another comment, I think a company breakup would help make the interop mandate work. If Facebook is left as dominant as it is now, it would have lots of opportunity to kneecap the mandate. I think you need the right social conditions to make interoperability work in practice.
- tboyd47 9y agoThe antitrust case involving Microsoft ultimately ended up with sort of an interop mandate, where Windows was required to "interop" with other browsers. Couldn't the same sort of ruling be made in these other areas?