Congress Report Recommends Breakup: Apple, Amazon, Facebook & Google
The report went something like this, "The dominance of Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google has diminished consumer choice, eroded innovation and entrepreneurship in the U/S economy, weakened the vibrancy of the free and diverse press and undermined Americans' privacy."
This week the House Judiciary Committee released a scathing 400+ page report on the dominance of tech companies, who've evolved from scrappy startup to tech barons, the likes of which we haven't seen since the days of railroad and oil tycoons.
The word "monopoly" was in the report 120 times.
The issue is a bit bipartisan, with Democrats ready to take major steps. Republicans, while concerned, aren't ready for the "nuclear option" of substantial restructuring. .
Amazon responded, basically saying its aggregation of sellers makes it much easier for consumers to comparison shop and forces down price of goods and services. Google says it competes in a fast-moving industry. And we know how much easier it is to use one search engine over multiple options.
Perhaps we've traded privacy for convenience. Innovation for ease.
From an advertising perspective, while we know Google is the largest entity by far, can you imagine a world where we are bidding on impressions across even more platforms & publishers? TV, out of home inventory is relatively finite. No so much the black hole of the internet.
Doesn't seem possible that the Dems will win on the breakup wish list, but remember what happened to AT&T.
