🚨 House Judiciary Committee report on tech and antitrust is out!
Thread with some of my initial reactions as I go through it...
First highly misleading claim:
"a decade into the future, 30% of world GDP may lie with [Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google] and just a handful of others."
Source is a McKinsey report, which says 30% is literally all B2B and B2C commerce globally.
Not "a handful of others"!!
It's so ironic to me that of the 100 acquisitions Facebook has made, the Instagram acquisition is the one most commonly criticized while also being the only one that was extensively investigated & cleared by regulators in the US & abroad at the time.
The House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing right now on proposals to change the antitrust laws.
Critics of the current laws want to make it easier to break up Big Tech.
Re-sharing my thread about the 10 myths related to tech & antitrust that you need to know.
Myth #1: “Big Tech companies are monopolies”
People use this term loosely (which I get!) to mean that a company is big or dominant, but when it comes to an actual monopolization case, the legal meaning of the word really matters.
According to DOJ guidelines, it’s “a market share in excess of two-thirds.”
The tech companies likely don’t exceed that threshold in any antitrust product market.
- Amazon 38% of ecommerce
- Apple 58% of US smartphone OS
- Google 29% of digital ads
- Facebook 23% of digital ads
The CEOs of Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook will be testifying in front of Congress today.
Critics want to break up the companies.
Here are the 10 myths about Big Tech and antitrust you should be aware of before tuning in.
Myth #1: “Big Tech companies are monopolies”
People use this term loosely (which I get!) to mean that a company is big or dominant, but when it comes to an actual monopolization case, the legal meaning of the word really matters.
According to DOJ guidelines, it’s “a market share in excess of two-thirds.”
The tech companies likely don’t exceed that threshold in any antitrust product market.
- Amazon 38% of ecommerce
- Apple 58% of US smartphone OS
- Google 29% of digital ads
- Facebook 23% of digital ads
1/ What's the difference between neoliberalism and social democracy?
Re-sharing this great thread from @CascadianSolo, which had been lost to the sands of Twitter...
2/ "I. Am. Not. A. Social. Democrat.
I'm a neoliberal.
Left-neoliberalism on this site is often conflated with social democracy. It really, really shouldn't be.
Key differences between left-neoliberals and social democrats, a thread:"
3/ "Because some of you don't seem to know the difference.
Minimum wage:
Social Democrats generally want high minimum wages, particularly nationally. Left-neoliberals are more cautious, preferring minimum wages set based on cost of living."