Has anyone seen the ref?
In every football match the most important person in the field is the referee. Applying the rules correctly he allows teams to face a fair competition and spectators to enjoy a beautiful game. Former professional players and coaches along with other industry experts organize and debate to write down the sport’s principles, the set of rules that every team and player must comply with to compete in the most prestigious football league: the NFL.
Now imagine the NFL without these rules. Imagine the Superbowl without a ref. What could the game possibly turn into? How far would players be willing to go to win the game? And most important, would fans enjoy it as much?
Few Teams
As of January 2022, the top 4 social media platforms summed up 94,4% market share, being two of them (FB and IG) owned by the same company. Facebook (76,95%) leads with an absolute dominance followed by Twitter (7,1%), Pinterest (5,76%) and Instagram (4,59%). The most amazing (and scariest) stat is FB’s 76,95% share. Just to have a reference, Apple (the company with highest market capitalization in the world) had a 56% share in the US smartphone market on Q4 2021.
Now, why are there few teams in such an exciting league? The Federal Trade Commission accused FB of Antitrust Violations on a “buy or bury” scheme. Holly Vedova, FTC Bureau of Competition Acting Director said “Facebook lacked the business acumen and technical talent to survive the transition to mobile. After failing to compete with new innovators, Facebook illegally bought or buried them when their popularity became an existential threat”. Where was the ref when FB bought IG and Whatsapp? No idea.
Under a scenario with few regulations and competitors the ones who get the greatest benefit are the current companies, that will do almost anything to keep their status quo. In FB’s case, a $85.9 billion revenue on 2020 allows them to turn that anything into everything.
On the other hand, the downside is something that us, users, must face every day. Misinformation, algorithms that empower hatred, personal user data leaks and teens developing depression are just some of them.
The Whistleblower
A former FB worker had to raise her voice to reveal some of the disastrous consequences in this non-regulated market. This situation inevitably unveils two uncomfortable questions that we must ask ourselves: how bad this really is? and, why have we waited for so long for this issue to be taken care of?
Unfortunately, the same institutions in charge of preventing this are the ones in charge of regulating it. In a way, they are responsible of raising the monsters that now they must domesticate. In the meantime, as hard as it may sound, the best thing we can do is regulate ourselves as users and consumers of these platforms.
