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ProfessorTom's avatar

It's almost like these "leaders" are playing kingmaker by picking and choosing winners and losers. This kind of monopolistic behavior has to stop. I think anti-trust lawsuits are in order.

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Koshmarov's avatar

Sue Tammany Hall!

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Harbinger's avatar

....nope (unfortunately). Anti-trust is formulated on the basis of market power over price and output of goods or services. You don't pay for basic social media, e.g. f'book, so they escape that net.

The power that the big techs have is over the information you volunteer to them. A new regulatory paradigm is needed, in which they are not allowed control over 'content' but are protected from legal action for platforming it.

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publius_x's avatar

When the government refuses to enact anti-trust enforcement, the guillotines come out next.

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Harbinger's avatar

....it may yet come to that P ! After thirty plus years, (and still counting) in the field, and in four different countries, I have to say that it is not at all straight forward to address the information dominance problem in regulatory terms, which do not have potential detrimental side effects. Information does not have the same characteristics as other goods or services. (So simplistically, if I give you a banana, then you have the fruit and I don't. If I provide you with some information about the banana, you have the info but, in effect I still do too.

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