Facebook is only 15 years old, yet in that time it has become the world's dominant social media platform, boasting more than 2.4 billion users. It has also become the world's second-largest digital advertising platform, effectively the runner-up in a worldwide duopoly dominated by Google. Now, it is under a baker's dozen of investigations alleging that it rose to the top by using unfair, anticompetitive tactics—and at least one competitor kept records.
Snap, parent company of Snapchat, kept a dossier "for years" detailing Facebook's attempts to thwart it, sources told The Wall Street Journal.
The Department of Justice publicly confirmed that its antitrust division was actively investigating widespread "concerns that consumers, businesses, and entrepreneurs have expressed" about "market-leading online platforms." The agency didn't name names, but that list of "market-leading" platforms is generally considered to include Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.
The wheels of justice may move slowly, but here's hoping the "with a computer" companies find that they do work.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Tuesday September 24 2019, @09:59PM (1 child)
What I don't get is why should they expect you to be the one to switch to Farcebook when they can't be bothered to switch to email? I'm not talking about just your family in particular--it seems to be the attitude of all its users--do as they do, or don't reach them.
Maybe it's got something to do with the fact that none of them seem to be able to maintain an email account for more than a year or so without it being hacked or their just leaving the organization that provided it.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 25 2019, @04:27AM
It applies to social networking just like it applies to asymmetric social interactions in real life.