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No, it’s using their de facto advertising monopoly to get into a new market (cloud hosting).

• yencabulator 3y ago
  So, like Amazon used their de facto book sales monopoly to get into cloud hosting? How Microsoft used their huge desktop & office software market share to get into cloud hosting? How IBM used their huge typewriter market share to get into computers? It's normal for large companies to use their revenue to expand into new market segments.
  • gumby 3y ago
    Those are excellent examples! This kind of thing was prosecuted firmly until antitrust was “reformed” under Reagan (the law didn’t change but the FTC reinterpreted it, largely led by Bork), the new approach (consumer price doctrine) followed by every successive president until Biden. And those years of doctrine, and judges influenced by them have made it tough going. But I think the tide is slowly turning. The consumer price doctrine (all that matters is what consumers pay, whether by a large monopolist or deep competition doesn’t matter; pick the best for each situation) is seductive: after all the whole point of government, at the end of the day, is what’s better for the people, right? But lazy analysis meant just imagining the immediate price change for consumers; long term factors like supplier resilience, innovation, supply chain fragility et almare ignored. Also ignored is the reality from empirical data: permitting or even endorsing monopolies ends up with higher prices not lower.