To help make sense of today’s antitrust hearing, I put together an old school FAQ with help from my colleagues at @cgousu that details some of the key questions and remedies to be discussed: medium.com/cgo-benchmark/….
Here are a few highlights. 1/6
Here are a few highlights. 1/6
Zuckerberg will face questions over FB’s acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. In attention markets, however, consumer exit is key. My own estimates suggest consumers have taken back nearly $200 billion of their time since the CA story broke: medium.com/cgo-benchmark/… 2/6
Google CEO Sundar Pichai will be in the hot seat today for his company’s advertising business. And yet, online ad prices have seen a dramatic drop in the past decade, according to the BLS and are now nearly half their 2009 level. fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WPU365 3/6 
Bezos will be questioned over Amazon’s market share in online retailing. But market definitions matter, and if the broader retail market is included, not just online sales, then that share drops to ~6%, according to @benedictevans: ben-evans.com/benedictevans/… 4/6
Finally, Apple will be interrogated about the 30% commission it charges some apps. I still don’t get why this is a concern. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Playstation, XBox, Nintendo, Steam, and Epic Games all have a 70-30 split. 5/6
Congress should take a closer look at these companies, but they should hold off on changing the laws until the FTC and DOJ investigations are finished. As I argued in an op-ed in the Hill, we should trust the process. thehill.com/opinion/financ… 6/6
I remember MySpace.
I remember that MySpace had error rates as high as 30 or 40 percent at times.
I remember that MySpace had error rates as high as 30 or 40 percent at times.
As per usual, @TechFreedom comes with the heat. Check out their thread on today's #antitrust hearing:
And here we go. The livestream for the #antitrusthearing has started:
Simply put, [these platforms] have too much power, says @davidcicilline in his opening statement. #antitrusthearing
In the #antitrusthearing, @RpSensenbrenner just wondered aloud how to price data. Last year I testified before the Senate and explained just how difficult this is in practice: banking.senate.gov/download/rineh….
@RepJerryNadler's opening statement praises railroad regulation that began in the 1880s with the ICC. I'd be wary of that example because railroad regulation was hardly a success story. At best, the regs *only* cost $90 million: jstor.org/stable/2555605…. #antitrusthearing
SPICEY HEARING. #antitrusthearing
I'm reading about optimal tax policy w/r/t ads and read the paper from @freepress. My big concern is that it assumes a tax will be fully incident on platform profits. More reasonable modeling suggests a 3% tax on FB's ads would only raise ~$33M.
Apple's @tim_cook says that his company is not dominant in any market. #antitrusthearing
Why does Google steal content, asks @davidcicilline.
Honestly, what kind of question is that? #antitrusthearing
Honestly, what kind of question is that? #antitrusthearing
Daphne's got it right.
A view from 2012:
"Facebook's $1 billion acquisition of Instagram, a photo sharing app that costs zero dollars to use and has no source of revenue, sure feels like a social networking tech bubble."
theatlantic.com/technology/arc…
#antitrusthearing
"Facebook's $1 billion acquisition of Instagram, a photo sharing app that costs zero dollars to use and has no source of revenue, sure feels like a social networking tech bubble."
theatlantic.com/technology/arc…
#antitrusthearing
Instagram has become a massive player, so @RepJerryNadler asks Zuck, why shouldn't we break up your company today if it was a mistake to allow the merger?
Zuck counters, Instagram wouldn't have become the size it is today if it weren't for FB's resources.
#antitrusthearing
Zuck counters, Instagram wouldn't have become the size it is today if it weren't for FB's resources.
#antitrusthearing
This again?
Cambridge Analytica was vaporware.
Its data wasn't used in the 2016 election.
People in the political ad industry laughed at their tech.
#antitrusthearing
Cambridge Analytica was vaporware.
Its data wasn't used in the 2016 election.
People in the political ad industry laughed at their tech.
#antitrusthearing
More data doesn't translate naturally into more revenue. Google and Facebook are big players in the online ad space because consumers spend so much time there. This is known as a demand interdependency.
#antitrusthearing
#antitrusthearing
1. Is the online diaper market a legitimate market for antitrust?
2. Diapersdotcom was "losing money on every box of diapers that we sold." @kristianstout & @AlecStapp had a great post on this a while back: truthonthemarket.com/author/stoutan…
#antitrusthearing
2. Diapersdotcom was "losing money on every box of diapers that we sold." @kristianstout & @AlecStapp had a great post on this a while back: truthonthemarket.com/author/stoutan…
#antitrusthearing
