I reached this same conclusion from a very different angle. If you're seriously worried about the unchecked power of monopolies, and understand the effects of M

I reached this same conclusion from a very different angle. If you're seriously worried about the unchecked power of monopolies, and understand the effects of Metcalfe's law, we should measure the degree of monopolization of tech companies differently than we do traditional industries. Businesses are locked in to Facebook and Google the same way that businesses were locked in to doing business with Standard Oil in the gilded age. The impossibility for regular users to leave the network makes competition de facto impossible, even if the company does not actively engage in anti-competitive behavior (in many cases, they do anyway). A tax on social software companies proportional to their network size would be an interesting proposal to solve both of these issues. It would also greatly increase the ability for 100,000 - 1,000,000 person "decentralized" social networks (like Mastodon or other competing networks) to thrive.