4 ms·
It's interesting to try to imagine how a break-up like the Bell breakup would even function with Facebook or Google. Unlike previous uses of Antitrust law, it'
by burke 9y ago
It's interesting to try to imagine how a break-up like the Bell breakup would even function with Facebook or Google.
Unlike previous uses of Antitrust law, it's not really plausible to simply split along geographic boundaries, sorting a few shared assets into one company or another, since the whole point of these companies is irrelevance of geographic boundaries.
Similarly, splitting along product lines is particularly challenging in tech companies, where everything is extremely integrated -- nevermind that Facebook and Google each have essentially one profit center, in advertisements. You couldn't very well split Google Flights out into its own corp. Even if you did, the search corp would still dominate.
Even if the political will is summoned to apply Antitrust legislation to tech giants, I'm not sure what an enforcement would look like.
I think what this actually points to is that Antitrust isn't the right lever: the problem is lax regulation, lax enforcement of existing regulation, and bad policy around lobbying efforts.
- basch 9y agohttp://www.yalelawjournal.org/note/amazons-antitrust-paradox http://www.yalelawjournal.org/note/amazons-antitrust-paradox
- pmoriarty 9y agoSplitting up the companies, perhaps on product boundaries (say, for example, breaking out Google Maps in to a separate company, etc), could certainly help by reducing the concentration of power. However, many of the most objectionable challenges posed by these companies -- challenges such as tracking, lack of privacy, putting people in to filter bubbles and otherwise manipulating what they see or how they see it -- are not really addressed merely by splitting them up. Laws and regulatory structures have to go further to limit and channel their behavior.
- AnimalMuppet 9y agoIf you split off Google Maps, then you split tracking of where I go apart from tracking of what I search for. That's not perfect, but it's not nothing.
- sushisource 9y agoYou're also assuming that the populace actually wants tracking like that broken up, which is very far from a forgone conclusion.