Facebook clearly tried to eliminate competition by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp, but it’s not clear they were successful, which is the question that matters in a case that is ultimately about politics and power.
Zuckerberg and Dorsey in Congress, Again; Apple Reduces App Store Fees for Small Developers; Apple’s Aggregation Politics
Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey were in front of Congress again, while Apple reduced its App Store take for small developers.
What If It’s Trump?, An Update on MongoDB, An Interview with MongoDB CEO Dev Ittycheria
What does it mean for tech if Trump wins? Then, catching up with MongoDB, and an interview with Dev Ittycheria, the company’s CEO.
Tech Under Biden, Prop 22 Passes, Uber’s Missed Monopoly
It appears that Vice President Biden will win, and that Republicans will hold the Senate, which is the best possible outcome for big tech. Plus, Prop 22 saves Uber, and also hurts it.
Tech in Congress, Again; Twitter vs. the New York Post; Who Are the Refs?
Congressional tech hearings are becoming more compelling with time, as tech companies run the risk of making not just economic enemies but political ones.
Facebook and the NYU Ad Observatory, Facebook’s FTC Decrees, Tradeoffs and Politics
The dispute between Facebook and the Ad Observatory are just as emblematic of the trade-offs between privacy and social responsibility as Clearview AI.
United States v. Google
The Justice Department’s lawsuit against Google is appropriately narrow, and if it fails it gives a template for Congressional action.
Twitter, Responsibility, and Accountability
Twitter went too far last week for reasons that go back to 2016 and the unfair blaming of tech for media’s mistakes.
Facebook’s Missing Monopoly, Facebook Takes Down QAnon, Facebook Versus Turkey
Calling Facebook a monopoly in the antitrust sense doesn’t make any sense, because digital goods aren’t a zero-sum game. Facebook, though, is increasingly American in the way it operates.
Anti-Monopoly vs. Antitrust
What matters about the Congressional report on tech and antitrust is that it exists, not the specific details.