It might sound like a strange question; how could big tech companies like Google, Facebook or Amazon be in trouble? They're some of the most valuable companies in the world, they've got enough money and power to do anything if they wanted. Well, not actually.
Facebook and Google have pretty strong control over what you see online, which leads them to have a lot of power. We saw a prime example during the most recent presidential election and the investigations into Facebook over Russia buying ads influencing voters. We can see it on Google and their ability to push something down in search results, ensuring it will not be seen by many. Amazon has power over which companies can sell more products, and at what price. All this is quite a lot of power. These company's enormous wealth also gives them power, but mainly the ability to
For instance, Facebook has bought Instagram and What's App within the last five years. Both these apps were considered competitors and therefore bought and brought onto Facebook. Google has done it with ad placing companies and Amazon can put stores out of business through their online wholesale and retail. This all sound like the qualities of a monopoly, which is bad news for these giants.
The government is beginning to look at whether these companies should be broken up, like AT&T in recent years and Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company. Both of which had monopolies on their respective markets and both were disbanded by the government. It is not out of the question for Facebook to be ordered to disown Instagram and What's App and allow them to be their own entities again.
A major reason for a break up of these companies is for the intended reason of why the government breaks up monopolies: market fairness and equality of opportunity for companies. Perhaps the bigger reason for this break up is that while these companies make huge sums of money, they pay far less in taxes. I'm no accounting major, but I do keep up with the news and it seems as though once a week I see a headline that mentions one of these companies being fined for not paying taxes, either in the US or in other countries.
So if these companies were to break up, what does that mean? Well, for those of us who enjoy Facebook or Instagram, we might see each social media outlet change its course in the basic way it functions. The main reason for Instagram stories is because of Snapchat, which refused an offer from Facebook to be bought out. So Mark Zuckerberg, being a kind-hearted businessman, vowed to destroy Snapchat as soon as possible.
However, if we saw Instagram become its own entity again, it may move away from Instagram stories and move towards some function that its original owners envisioned. It would look a little different for Google and Amazon, as I am less familiar with the interrelations between them and the companies under them.
In any case, if these companies were to be broken up, it may lead to more good in the interweb. It would lead to, at the very least, more compeitions between businesses, which is always good for us consumers.
