> I would much rather let the market produce alternatives products when companies do things customers object to. Why, though? This line of thinking does not wo

> I would much rather let the market produce alternatives products when companies do things customers object to. Why, though? This line of thinking does not work in a modern, connected society. You can not any longer choose to avoid these services, and you will still be affected. Personal consumer choice may take decades to play out in the market, as people take time - a lot of time - to identify and address risks in a rapidly changing environment like tech and social. We all have Facebook profiles whether we want to or not - and this means that individual choice no longer means anything about whether or not the company survives. The market reacts very slowly. Are you willing for humanity to suffer from consequences we can identify and fix, but choose not to while we let the 'market' decided? Externalities are not priced in to the price of pollution and the damages done by climate change. The 'market' does not select for an optimal solution by anyone's definition here or with social/web. By letting the 'market' decide, you are directly allowing and accepting that billions of dollars of propaganda, meant to shape public opinion through the use of logical fallacies, scare tactics, etc, would end up being the deciding factor in how social media works. You'll end up with billionaire interests being 'market-encouraged' while the regular people will have no voice. > The best thing about the internet is that it is so easy for another product to spring up to serve a new need or compete with ensconced businesses. This doesn't seem true to me at all. If anything, the Internet is the most intrenched-money-takes-all platform we have. I think you are mistaken when it comes to your optimism about how the web works. > Regulations increase cost of business I think this is false. Regulations increase the sustainable lifetime of a business by providing a stable market to operate in for decades. > and dissuades other companies from competing. I think this is also false. Regulations create opportunities for sustainable business, and do not dissuade from real value creation.