60 ms·

In the past few days or so there have been articles about potential antitrust stuff against Apple, Facebook, and Google. What is going on here? Facebook artic

In the past few days or so there have been articles about potential antitrust stuff against Apple, Facebook, and Google. What is going on here? Facebook article, three hours ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20084703 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20084703 Google article, three days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20066288 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20066288 Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty excited to see these companies get smacked around because I think all are too powerful, too influential, but with these three in a row in such quick succession I have to wonder if the motivation is political. Edit: Here is a similar article for Amazon (one day ago), that slipped through the cracks: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20074593 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20074593

golem14 7y ago
I wonder why this is downvoted. The timing is really curious.
- darkpuma 7y ago
  The Amazon/WaPo article notes the timing as well and hints that it might not be totally partisan. > "Antitrust also has become an early flash point among Democrats vying for the White House ahead of the 2020 election. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) recently threatened major investigations of Amazon, Apple and Facebook. This week, she offered early support in response to news that the Justice Department could bring such an investigation against Google." Maybe this is a case of numerous parties having a diverse set of motivations that all line up? Democrats who blame these companies for Trump's election (makes the least sense in the specific case of Apple or Amazon...), and Republicans who say these companies are censoring them (makes the least sense in the specific case of Apple or Amazon...) Maybe these companies are just running out of friends in Washington.
  - zepto 7y ago
    Seems like this takes the wind out of her presidential campaign. So maybe partisan after all.
    - darkpuma 7y ago
      If the companies in question remain intact until 2020 (which seems certain) then she could still campaign on the premise of "Trump's administration has failed to go after these companies hard enough." So I don't agree that it defuses her presidential appeal. However you still may be right that it will dilute her campaign.
    - mc32 7y ago
      That would be a calculation if were a front runner but she isn’t (at least not at the moment).
  - golem14 7y ago
    I'd have an easier time believing this if all those cases were definite investigations or actions taken. However, from my reading, the admin is publicly announcing that some action might be taken, DoJ is "considering actions" etc, i.e. nothing super tangible yet. I might well be wrong. To me, this feels more like a not so subtle threat than a concerted, thoroughly considered plan that has finally come to fruition.
  - plandis 7y ago
    > Amazon/WaPo Amazon doesn’t own the Washington Post.
    - darkpuma 7y ago
      I wasn't suggesting otherwise. I was referring to the WaPo article about Amazon: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/06/02/amazon-could-face-heightened-antitrust-scrutiny-under-new-agreement-between-us-regulators/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/06/02/amazon-...
DannyBee 7y ago
What happened is the FTC and DOJ brokered and agreement on jurisdiction, finally. The rest of these articles are just guessing about what it means. Really. It's certainly the case that they don't broker agreements for no reason. But they've also probably been talking to each other about it for 4+ years. In the background they've almost certainly had lighter investigations/considerations roughly "forever". So i'd take all of this with a huge grain of salt until there is something more. It will be obvious what is going on one way or the other when they start issuing subpoenas, to either potential witnesses, or to these companies themselves. Before that, the other sign would be huge staffing up of the temps and experts necessary for document review, etc.

golem14 7y ago

I wonder why this is downvoted. The timing is really curious.

darkpuma 7y ago
The Amazon/WaPo article notes the timing as well and hints that it might not be totally partisan. > "Antitrust also has become an early flash point among Democrats vying for the White House ahead of the 2020 election. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) recently threatened major investigations of Amazon, Apple and Facebook. This week, she offered early support in response to news that the Justice Department could bring such an investigation against Google." Maybe this is a case of numerous parties having a diverse set of motivations that all line up? Democrats who blame these companies for Trump's election (makes the least sense in the specific case of Apple or Amazon...), and Republicans who say these companies are censoring them (makes the least sense in the specific case of Apple or Amazon...) Maybe these companies are just running out of friends in Washington.
- zepto 7y ago
  Seems like this takes the wind out of her presidential campaign. So maybe partisan after all.
  - darkpuma 7y ago
    If the companies in question remain intact until 2020 (which seems certain) then she could still campaign on the premise of "Trump's administration has failed to go after these companies hard enough." So I don't agree that it defuses her presidential appeal. However you still may be right that it will dilute her campaign.
  - mc32 7y ago
    That would be a calculation if were a front runner but she isn’t (at least not at the moment).
- golem14 7y ago
  I'd have an easier time believing this if all those cases were definite investigations or actions taken. However, from my reading, the admin is publicly announcing that some action might be taken, DoJ is "considering actions" etc, i.e. nothing super tangible yet. I might well be wrong. To me, this feels more like a not so subtle threat than a concerted, thoroughly considered plan that has finally come to fruition.
- plandis 7y ago
  > Amazon/WaPo Amazon doesn’t own the Washington Post.
  - darkpuma 7y ago
    I wasn't suggesting otherwise. I was referring to the WaPo article about Amazon: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/06/02/amazon-could-face-heightened-antitrust-scrutiny-under-new-agreement-between-us-regulators/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/06/02/amazon-...

DannyBee 7y ago

What happened is the FTC and DOJ brokered and agreement on jurisdiction, finally. The rest of these articles are just guessing about what it means. Really. It's certainly the case that they don't broker agreements for no reason. But they've also probably been talking to each other about it for 4+ years. In the background they've almost certainly had lighter investigations/considerations roughly "forever". So i'd take all of this with a huge grain of salt until there is something more. It will be obvious what is going on one way or the other when they start issuing subpoenas, to either potential witnesses, or to these companies themselves. Before that, the other sign would be huge staffing up of the temps and experts necessary for document review, etc.