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> Or perhaps Microsoft has successfully avoided receiving the same level of antitrust scrutiny as the Big Four because it is neither primarily consumer-facing l
by rdtsc 7y ago
> Or perhaps Microsoft has successfully avoided receiving the same level of antitrust scrutiny as the Big Four because it is neither primarily consumer-facing like Apple or Amazon nor does it operate a platform with a significant amount of political speech via user-generated content (UGC) like Facebook or Google (YouTube).
I can see it being that. MS is not as much in the business of manufacturing consent, using Chomsky and Herman's famous book title. But, all those other companies do it to some extent, though, maybe Apple less so. The journalists from traditional media see these companies eating their lunch, so to speak, and they've been taking jabs at them periodically.
Regular consumers, perhaps mostly the conservative ones, also think they are being manipulated so it resonates with them. So in a way the tech companies managed to make enemies on both sides of the aisle. However, I imagine they'll be fine. I don't see any of them actually getting broken up, especially when they've been spending close to $20M/year in lobbying https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=d000067823 https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=d000067823.