Breaking Up Facebook Won't Solve the Problem
Forced split-ups may let the government show who's in charge, but social media companies need a more complex antitrust solution.
Antitrust needs a rethink for today’s technology companies.
Photographer: Bloomberg/BloombergA long overdue antitrust push is gaining steam. But it's focusing on large technology companies like Facebook Inc. and Google-parent Alphabet Inc., which present complex problems that classic antitrust approaches won’t always solve.
The cases are based on very standard stuff. The U.S. Justice Department is accusing Google of illegally preserving its dominant market share in search and search advertising by paying and pressuring phone makers to install Google as their default search engine. Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of states are suing Facebook for anti-competitive behavior because of its ownership of Instagram and WhatsApp.