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This isn't unique to WhatsApp/Meta though. Many banks require a smartphone running unrooted Android or iOS. Visa/Mastercard(and AMEX I guess) have a polyopoly(?
by maccard 4y ago
This isn't unique to WhatsApp/Meta though. Many banks require a smartphone running unrooted Android or iOS. Visa/Mastercard(and AMEX I guess) have a polyopoly(?) on cashless transactions, and have done for my entire life. Many government services here in the UK are provided by private corporations, and have been for a very long time.
Another way of thinking of it is that the value that Meta/Mastercard/Virgin/other companies that fit that description provide is so substantial that they have become intertwined with society.
The reality is likely somewhere in the middle IMO
- geraldhh 4y ago> Many government services here in the UK are provided by private corporations how's that working out? asking for a friend who thinks that for-profit healthcare was a step in the wrong direction.
- maccard 4y agoIn my opinion, "fine" is about as far as I'd go. It's neither good nor bad. The real cause for issues over the last 20 years is the lack of sustained funding, and that applies to both public and private corporations. > for-profit healthcare was a step in the wrong direction. Using the words "for-profit healthcare" is a distraction from the topic. GP's have been private since the beginning of the NHS, they're the definition of for-profit healthcare. On the flip side, Virgin operates many of the major healthcare provdiers as an NHS service provider. I'm not saying that they're incredible, but they're doing it. The option isn't "public", it's public and sustained funding and investment. Given the govenment of the last decade in the UK, I'm not convinced the situation would be any better if the NHS was more public than it is.
- eropple 4y ago> polyopoly Oligopoly.