Does Big Tech Prioritize Power Over Innovation?
Congressmen and regulators in the US, EU, Australia and the UK are chasing anti-competitive practices of big tech companies. Last July, US lawmakers investigated Facebooks acquisition of Instagram, Apples App Store advantage, Googles advertising practices, and Amazons treatment of small sellers. (Subscribe to the Todays Cache newsletter for a quick snapshot of the top five tech articles. Click here to subscribe for free.) A quick glance at peoples digital lifestyle reveals that their online experience is a feature of about 12 applications offered by some large companies. Most people decide what to buy with the Amazon app. Connect with friends and family on Facebook. Post your photo on Instagram and text your contact information to WhatsApp. Search the web via google. Apple users do most of this within the iOS Walled Garden ecosystem, which distributes apps only from the App Store. Taken together, these tech giants have a combined market value of $ 5 trillion and power the digital life of almost every smartphone user. In the early days, these apps and interfaces helped consumers move to a digital life. But over the last decade, they have grown to be more powerful and influential. Consider Facebook when it acquired Instagram for $ 1 billion in 2012. Some analysts saw the acquisition as a way for Facebook to stop the competition. A few years later, the social networking platform went shopping and bought WhatsApp for $ 19 billion. Facebook has become more powerful with the acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. Today, social networks and their app families average 1.88 billion daily active users in March 2021, up 8% from the same period last year. The company is also expanding into the world of e-commerce with its marketplace interface. Read also: Facebook and its app family as one big digital bazaar  Jeff Bezos started Amazon to sell books. Today, the company sells almost everything in the sun. According to market research firm Mordor Intelligence, the e-commerce giant is currently the second largest over-the-top (OTT) content provider after Netflix, in a $ 101 billion market with annual growth of 13%. Streaming and advertising  Investor CEO Jeff Bezos said the Prime Video platform alone saw a 70% year-on-year surge this year. And online retailers continue to add new subscribers, customers, and content. Recently, he signed a $ 8.5 billion deal with Hollywoods MGM Studio to provide a library of movie titles. Alphabet-owned Google has grown beyond the search business over the last two decades. But the problem arises from the advertising business. The Daily Mail sued the company in April, controlling the tools used by search giants to sell inventory, space for publisher pages where ads can be placed, and exchanges to determine where ads are placed. Claimed to be. Google was also asked for a suggestion to remove third-party cookies from Chrome browsers. Last week, Google promised UK competition regulators to review the proposal after advertisers complained that cookies were used to personalize and target ads. Google says its privacy sandbox will remove the cookie trackers currently used by digital advertisers. Also read: Google follows Apple and limits apps from tracking users  In a somewhat similar position, Apple is also crucified with advertisers to enhance the privacy features of their devices and give them more control over the devices they sell. With a recent iOS update, iPhone makers have given users control over the data that apps can collect. As a result, Facebook has made changes to its advertising tools, as iOS 14.5 prohibits apps from collecting certain data. Another move for the Cupertino-based company is to introduce a new paid advertising app slot for developers to promote their apps in the app store. App Store and game developers  The Apples App Store is also under the scanner to charge commissions for in-app purchases. Fortnite game maker Epic Games brought Apple to court after the iPhone maker removed the companys app from the App Store because of a policy violation. Federal Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers has heard of a high-profile case and will pass her decision within a few weeks. Epic wants Apple to open up its iPhone to competing app stores so that developers dont require them to use an in-app payment system. Antitrust regulators in the US, EU, UK and Australia are strongly opposed to the monopoly power of big tech companies. The EU, UK and Australia have completed several investigations into these corporate practices and reached a settlement in certain cases, but in the United States there was only one major move. Antitrust Law  Last July, the House Judiciary Committees Antitrust Subcommittee burned the CEOs of Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google. At an antitrust hearing, lawmakers covered Facebooks acquisition of Instagram, Apples App Store advantage, Googles advertising practices, and Amazons treatment of small sellers. In October, the Panel released a bitter 449-page report suggesting significant changes in antitrust laws in each country. On Friday, the Antimonopoly Subcommittee compiled a 16-month survey of four major tech companies and submitted a proposal for a drastic legislative package to curb their position in the dominant market. ..  David Siciline, chairman of the Antimonopoly Act Subcommittee, said that currently unregulated technology monopolies have too much power on our economy. They are in a unique position to choose winners and losers, destroy small businesses, raise consumer prices, and drive people out of work. Along with Siciline, a bipartisan parliamentary group has submitted four bills aimed at curbing the power of big tech companies. One of the bills could lead to dissolution, and another could end the practice of one dominant platform eating up competitive threats. All submitted bills will be referred to the House Judiciary Committee. Buck, a ranking member and co-sponsor of a bill that prevents dominant platforms from buying competitive threats, said four tech companies prioritize power over innovation and take advantage of anti-competitive behavior. He said he maintains monopoly power in the online market by curbing competition. What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online  LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. 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