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Apple and Amazon seem to have ways through which they can be proven to abuse their position and can get decoupled through an investigation. What would be the p

Apple and Amazon seem to have ways through which they can be proven to abuse their position and can get decoupled through an investigation. What would be the play on FB? They own three large data silos but do they leverage one to gain competitive advantage on other? I just use WhatsApp these days, so I am not sure of this. AFAIK, they allow you to export your data like photos out of FB, so that can't be proven to lock in your data as well. So, will this investigation be limited to their algortihmic ranking for posts or matching for ads?

amelius 6y ago
Isn't the network effect sufficient? I mean back in the days when telephony was starting, companies had to open up their networks to each other.
- actuator 6y ago
  Can't FB just point to a newcomer like Tiktok and give a counter example for network effect not being something that stops a new competitor? Also, how do you imagine a network opening up? I doubt FB and Instagram can be converted to a standard. Messaging/Chat might be converted to a standard. XMPP was that but now we have clusters of messaging apps doing their own things.
  - amelius 6y ago
    You might have a point but FB also owns WhatsApp.
    - actuator 6y ago
      Yeah, that's where it would be interesting to see compatibility. Like using your favorite messaging app to talk to your friends without being limited by app/platform choice.
mercer 6y ago
I can't answer your questions, but I'll add this: 1. FB owning both Instagram and WhatsApp means that it's almost impossibly for me to escape their grasp as a 'regular person'. 2. even avoiding FB itself is difficult. From apps that use the FB SDK to like buttons infecting many sites I visit, FB gets to track my behavior. That seems like abuse, or monopolistic. I can't see a practical way to avoid FB in my day to day. That's definitely a duck that quacks.

amelius 6y ago

Isn't the network effect sufficient? I mean back in the days when telephony was starting, companies had to open up their networks to each other.

actuator 6y ago
Can't FB just point to a newcomer like Tiktok and give a counter example for network effect not being something that stops a new competitor? Also, how do you imagine a network opening up? I doubt FB and Instagram can be converted to a standard. Messaging/Chat might be converted to a standard. XMPP was that but now we have clusters of messaging apps doing their own things.
- amelius 6y ago
  You might have a point but FB also owns WhatsApp.
  - actuator 6y ago
    Yeah, that's where it would be interesting to see compatibility. Like using your favorite messaging app to talk to your friends without being limited by app/platform choice.

mercer 6y ago

I can't answer your questions, but I'll add this: 1. FB owning both Instagram and WhatsApp means that it's almost impossibly for me to escape their grasp as a 'regular person'. 2. even avoiding FB itself is difficult. From apps that use the FB SDK to like buttons infecting many sites I visit, FB gets to track my behavior. That seems like abuse, or monopolistic. I can't see a practical way to avoid FB in my day to day. That's definitely a duck that quacks.