Stay in Your Lane: An AntiTrust Story
Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple — the four powerhouses of Big Tech.
These four companies have seamlessly integrated their products into our daily lives. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love being able to search a topic and instantly get thousands of webpages telling me everything I need to know. I also love my Macbook, iPhone, AirPods, iPad and Apple Pencil. All of these devices have helped me through school, create content, and enjoy watching my favorite shows on the go. Amazon Prime allows me to buy almost anything I want for an affordable price and quickly. Lastly, as much I have grown a dislike for it, I use Instagram every day to connect with my friends, find inspiration, and enjoy entertaining content. Arguably, these four companies are the best at what they do. But they might be so good that they have made it impossible for fair competition.
Big Tech v. Everyone Else
Recently, a bipartisan House committee introduced four bills on June 11, 2021 that aim to regulate these four tech companies. One bill in particular would prevent a platform from merging or acquiring another platform if they are in direct competition with each other. For example, if this bill was passed earlier, Facebook may not have been able to acquire Instagram. This bill protects smaller companies and allows space for fair competition. In my opinion, fair competition is important in any industry. It allows for innovation, new ideas, and prevents from any one company to have too much power. It prevents monopolies.
The Clone Wars
However, as Andrew Hutchinson explains, although this bill allows for more fair competition it might just encourage Facebook to continue to clone its adversaries which they have done in the past. For example, Facebook created Instagram stories to compete with Snapchat’s concept of sharing short videos and timed pictures that eventually expire. Similarly, amore recent example is when Instagram created Reels to compete with TikTok’s short form auto-playing video concept. Despite Facebook’s attempts, historically, their own iterations of their competition are not typically favored by its users. However, it will be interesting to see after the passage of these bills, if it will in fact improve competition and allow Facebook’s adversaries a shot of co-existing with Facebook and its subsidiaries.
My Takeaway
Since the introduction of these bills, there has been a spotlight on Big Tech and the impacts of their decisions politically, financially, and on the daily lives of its users including their privacy. For a long time, these companies have gone unregulated partly due to its quick expansive growth and the inability of older generation lawmakers to understand the power of social media platforms and its technology. I agree that it is time to regulate these large companies. It will benefit competition in their respective industry niches, the creators that depend on these platforms, and its influence in our societal ecosystem. Although these bills have not yet passed, I do believe that the introduction of these bills are a great step towards proper regulation. Four companies should not be able to monopolize the way we interact with digital technology but rather there should be a balance allowing for new ideas to enter the arena and encourage innovation.
