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I don’t see how this is a legal problem for Twitter, at least in the U.S. They are not a dominant force on the Web or even in social media; they have little mar

I don’t see how this is a legal problem for Twitter, at least in the U.S. They are not a dominant force on the Web or even in social media; they have little market power. And any data that shows lots of people leaving for other social media platforms would actually help prove that competition is strong (ironically). Free speech cuts both ways. It’s legal for Twitter to block links to Mastodon for the same reason it was legal for them to block the sitting U.S. President from posting.

wpietri 4y ago
Yes and no. Twitter is dominant for their slice of social media, as demonstrated by the fact that a lot of the people who think about leaving don't see viable alternatives. But I agree that US anti-trust law is so hands off at this point that there's no chance the FTC would do anything substantive here.
- snowwrestler 4y ago
  If you define Twitter’s market as “sites that do things very similarly to Twitter,” I agree they look dominant. I doubt U.S. courts would agree with such a narrow definition, though. Twitter itself doesn’t seem to take that view of its own market, given that Facebook and Instagram are first on the block list—both products of Meta, a competitor with far more eyeballs and revenue than Twitter.
  - wpietri 4y ago
    The FTC themselves say "a product market in an antitrust investigation consists of all goods or services that buyers view as close substitutes". So I don't think it's "do things very similarly to Twitter" as much as it is "serves the same need as Twitter". And as I said, looking at the discussions around leaving Twitter provides plenty of evidence that close substitutes are not available in the view of users.
jacquesm 4y ago
Twitter is already actively regulated by the FCC and operating under a fairly strict regime.
- snowwrestler 4y ago
  Twitter is under a consent decree by the FTC related to user privacy, not market competition.
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    True, but that means that they are not too insignificant to be regulated.
    - zaroth 4y ago
      You can browse all the companies that the FTC has consent decrees with. You don’t have to be large. The existence of a consent decree says nothing about their market position.
Nomentatus 4y ago
Twitter has very considerable market power. That's the term in law, not "dominant force on the Web" or monopoly. No-one can use market power to extend or preserve market power. That's precisely what's happened.

wpietri 4y ago

Yes and no. Twitter is dominant for their slice of social media, as demonstrated by the fact that a lot of the people who think about leaving don't see viable alternatives. But I agree that US anti-trust law is so hands off at this point that there's no chance the FTC would do anything substantive here.

snowwrestler 4y ago
If you define Twitter’s market as “sites that do things very similarly to Twitter,” I agree they look dominant. I doubt U.S. courts would agree with such a narrow definition, though. Twitter itself doesn’t seem to take that view of its own market, given that Facebook and Instagram are first on the block list—both products of Meta, a competitor with far more eyeballs and revenue than Twitter.
- wpietri 4y ago
  The FTC themselves say "a product market in an antitrust investigation consists of all goods or services that buyers view as close substitutes". So I don't think it's "do things very similarly to Twitter" as much as it is "serves the same need as Twitter". And as I said, looking at the discussions around leaving Twitter provides plenty of evidence that close substitutes are not available in the view of users.

jacquesm 4y ago

Twitter is already actively regulated by the FCC and operating under a fairly strict regime.

snowwrestler 4y ago
Twitter is under a consent decree by the FTC related to user privacy, not market competition.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  True, but that means that they are not too insignificant to be regulated.
  - zaroth 4y ago
    You can browse all the companies that the FTC has consent decrees with. You don’t have to be large. The existence of a consent decree says nothing about their market position.

Nomentatus 4y ago

Twitter has very considerable market power. That's the term in law, not "dominant force on the Web" or monopoly. No-one can use market power to extend or preserve market power. That's precisely what's happened.