Editorial Board
Don’t Break Up Facebook
The social-media colossus has plenty of faults. But taking it apart wouldn’t help.
It’s tempting.
Photographer: Nasir Kachroo/NurPhoto
Facebook Inc. bestrides the Earth. It attracts nearly 1.5 billion users a day, commands a fifth of global online advertising revenue, and has a market capitalization that exceeds the GDP of many countries. An average user spends nearly an hour a day on its various platforms — about as much time as they spend eating and drinking.
Any business of such dominance would raise concerns about fair competition, and Facebook is no exception. A number of activist groups are even demanding that the company be broken up. Increasingly, they have sympathetic ears on Capitol Hill and in the media.