Discussion

• @grinich Michael Grinich on x

  @can fits perfectly https://twitter.com/...

• @sal19 @sal19 on x

  I would love to know who this mystery company that Facebook has tried to buy numerous times over the years, according to the FTC's lawsuit, might be https://twitter.com/...

• @hawleymo Josh Hawley on x

  This is a necessity. The @instagram and WhatsApp mergers with @Facebook were anti-competitive, they were meant to be anti-competitive, and they should be broken up https://twitter.com/...

• @edmundlee Edmund Lee on x

  Gov't says Facebook unfairly uses its monopoly power to squelch competition and Instagram/WhatsApp should be unwound, e.g., sold off... Cutting @instagram would eliminate 1/3 of Facebook's ad revenue and cut its share of the ad market from 35% to 23% https://www.ftc.gov/... https…

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  The FTC's complaint that there is no real competition in this market is 53 pages long and does not once mention the word “TikTok.” TikTok has 800 million users worldwide. I'm sorry but it's worth a mention!

• @film_girl Christina Warren on x

  This is so dumb. The DoJ approved both of these mergers and Instagram had 13 employees when it was acquired. https://twitter.com/...

• @can Can Duruk on x

  Calling it: Pinterest https://twitter.com/...

• @dez_blanchfield Dez Blanchfield on x

  3/ well that just got very real very fast .. didn't it.. https://twitter.com/...

• @colorofchange @colorofchange on x

  Because @Facebook has been allowed to amass enough power to avoid consequences, they regularly: * Buy and force out their competitors * Allow misinformation to spread virtually unchecked * Enable white supremacists to organize online * Mistreat Black employees https://twitter.com…

• @tonyromm Tony Romm on x

  FB advises employees to stop saying they should destroy competitors and do land grabs over email https://twitter.com/...

• @guykawasaki Guy Kawasaki on x

  Why anyone thinks this is going to solve the problem is beyond me. BTW, what is the problem they are trying to solve? https://www.theverge.com/...

• @brooklynmarie Brooke Binkowski on x

  Guess the Zuck's not so big on freedom of speech after all, huh? https://twitter.com/...

• @tayhatmaker Taylor Hatmaker on x

  if instagram was forced to become a separate company could it be good again?

• @teddyschleifer Teddy Schleifer on x

  plz don't tweet about it!!! https://twitter.com/...

• @will_duffield @will_duffield on x

  Forcing the divestiture of Instagram and WhatsApp would do little to change their dominance of their respective market niches, and offers no real benefits to users. https://twitter.com/...

• @mayatcontreras Maya Contreras on x

  Fantastic! Have been discussing the need for antitrust to address social/media monopolies for a while now; very thankful to have such a brilliant AG in @TishJames #facebook https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @swodinsky Shoshana Wodinsky on x

  👀👀👀👀 👀👀👀 https://twitter.com/...

• @film_girl Christina Warren on x

  When FB bought Instagram, you had people loudly claiming they overpaid (I said it was the best billion they ever spent). FB hadn't even gone public when it acquired Instagram (it was in its quiet period). Now it allegedly killed innovation. This is insane.

• @jrhuddles Jennifer Huddleston on x

  This could also open the door for similar action in any range of industries changing the current approach to M & A and deterring what could be beneficial actions for consumers. 4/

• @jrhuddles Jennifer Huddleston on x

  In short, it seems far from clear that a break up would benefit consumers and it certainly wouldn't solve any of the other tech policy problems and might even make them worse

• @jrhuddles Jennifer Huddleston on x

  Finally, there is the question of what would it do for the consumer experience. Would we see the return of a subscription model for WhatsApp? Would separate platforms have fewer resources to engage in key content moderation, have to leverage more data, or sell more advertising?

• @jrhuddles Jennifer Huddleston on x

  At the time Insta and WhatsApp were not the giants they are today and these acquisitions were even laughed at and criticized. I worry that such actions could chill a part of the Silicon Valley ecosystem not just for Facebook but for many other tech companies. 3/

• @willoremus Will Oremus on x

  My first thought on the Facebook antitrust discourse is that a lot of the folks who find a breakup outrageous have a narrow understanding of antitrust law's scope and purpose. It isn't just about “monopoly,” it's about market power, anticompetitive behavior, and consumer welfare.

• @karlbode Karl Bode on x

  and of course here comes Josh Hawley, who has literally never said a single negative word about America's telecom monopolies, now just super-authentically concerned about monopolies and competition issues https://twitter.com/...

• @chopraftc Rohit Chopra on x

  I believe the company's failures and repeat offenses must be corrected through structural reform. The FTC and the states have asked the court to order @Facebook to divest assets and business lines, and take any other steps needed to restore competition.

• @film_girl Christina Warren on x

  The WhatsApp acquisition didn't receive the regulatory scrutiny it perhaps should have. But the deal went through. I can see *maybe* being mad about it. I cannot understand the argument that Instagram with 13 employees and negative revenue was anything but a smart acquisition.

• @film_girl Christina Warren on x

  Honestly, I'm not some anti-regulation zealot but this sort of action, nearly a decade after one of the acquisitions, should freak every company out. Don't be too successful with someone you buy or else you'll get sued.

• @film_girl Christina Warren on x

  There are lots of reasons to sue Facebook. Facebook growing Instagram into one of the biggest social networks is not one of them.

• @ow @ow on x

  I wrote about Facebook's mad rush to integrate all of its acquisitions, and why it was designed to make it difficult for the government to rip them apart earlier this year 👇 https://onezero.medium.com/...

• @sal19 @sal19 on x

  Facebook's blue app has lost users and engagement to Instagram, according to the FTC's lawsuit https://twitter.com/...

• @martinsfp Martin Sfp Bryant on x

  In a way, the US needed to step in to tackle Facebook's size and power. Without government intervention it had zero motivation*not* to buy up every company it could or clone them out of existence.

• @rustybrick Barry Schwartz on x

  One way to pay for the COVID cost https://twitter.com/...

• @benedictevans Benedict Evans on x

  I wrote a long essay in the summer on the logic of breaking up Facebook and Google. The short version: it would make advertising more competitive (and hence be bad for privacy!) but have much less impact on competition in search or social. https://www.ben-evans.com/...

• @ldrogen Leigh Drogen on x

  Breaking up Facebook is good, but what would be better is forcing all social networks to provide an open API so their social graphs are portable to new startups, that would really be the dagger in facebooks heart https://twitter.com/...

• @joannastern Joanna Stern on x

  Instagram is spun off, Systrom returns, Reels is deleted from interface, old app icon returns. This is a future I could live with. https://twitter.com/...

• @ow @ow on x

  Say what you will about doing this so late, but it's painfully obvious that Facebook has a monopoly on social media that is *increasingly* difficult to avoid and asserts massive power/influence globally. Unwinding that wouldn't be bad for anyone (except Facebook, I guess).

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  Every antitrust case has to define its market, and the FTC argues that “social advertising” is a defined market and that Facebook has a monopoly over it. Expect Facebook to argue that it's just one part of a much larger advertising market. https://twitter.com/...

• @martinsfp Martin Sfp Bryant on x

  Breaking up Facebook is finally on the cards. But will this just end in a mish-mash compromise where nothing really changes? How much would breaking it up at this stage actually inconvenience consumers? https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @broderick Ryan Broderick on x

  Unwinding Instagram and Whatsapp would strip Facebook of around 3 billion monthly active users. It would also render them effectively irrelevant with Gen Z and seriously cripple their international reach. https://twitter.com/...

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  Notably, the FTC's vote to take this case was 3-2. Commissioners Noah Joshua Phillips and Christine S. Wilson, both Trump appointees, voted no.

• @jason_kint Jason Kint on x

  Reports that this Facebook investigation would be significant and bipartisan, including most of the states, first came out after this meeting last year in NYC. I don't think FB's cover-ups did anything to slow them down. https://www.wsj.com/...