The Federal Trade Commission has completed
two investigations on privacy, fining Facebook
$5 billion and joining New York state in a $170
million settlement with Google’s YouTube.
In some ways, the U.S. is simply trying to catch
up with European regulators. Europe has come
down especially hard on Google by imposing
fines of nearly $10 billion for abusing the power
of it widely used search engine, digital ad
network and Android software for smartphones.
Google’s corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., is
appealing the Europe fines.
Experts say breakups are unlikely in the short
term. U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, the Rhode Island
Democrat leading the House investigation, has
framed such measures as a “last resort.” Even so,
Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple could
face new restrictions on their power.
Here’s a look at how these companies dominate
and what their defenses could be.
Facebook is certainly big. But is it an illegal,
competition-crushing monopoly?
Critics believe a breakup — possibly by spinning
off Instagram and WhatsApp — is needed
because Facebook can squash competitors
either by buying them or using its enormous
resources to mimic services they offer — as it’s
done with Snapchat, for example.
Facebook executives have been calling broadly for
regulation, though nothing that comes close to
breaking it up. Instead, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has
called for “new rules” to address harmful content,
election integrity, privacy and data portability.
Image: Marcio Jose Sanchez