As I posted previously when this topic came up (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19079526 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19079526), it makes little se

As I posted previously when this topic came up (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19079526 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19079526), it makes little sense to regulate these companies while there are still federal laws on the books actively encouraging the centralization of big tech. Quoting from that post: Why not start with relaxing the federal laws which forbid the development of third-party applications? The limits on third-party apps are legal, not technical. It is not technically challenging to build an application that collects Facebook credentials and then presents alternative views and features. It could, for example, finally be possible to see a time-ordered view of your friends' posts (Facebook doesn't allow this since it reduces engagement). The development of such applications would serve as a threat and check on the market dominance of Facebook. A popular third-party application could consider adding its own features that Facebook does not have. It would also reduce Facebook's revenue. What stops this? In the US, it is primarily the CFAA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act). Once Facebook formally tells a company to stop accessing their servers, they are in violation of federal law if they continue to do so. It seems premature to pursue legal action while we still have federal laws that encourage and cement the dominance of a single provider.