https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-20/rein-in-big-tech-facebook-google-acquiring-competitors/100551354 Skip to main content ABC News Homepage SearchLog InLog InMore from ABC More from ABC Close menuABC * ABC Home * News * Radio * iview * Everyday * More Editorial Policies Read our editorial guiding principles * Accessibility * Help * Contact Us * About the ABC * Privacy Policy * Terms of Use * (c) 2021 ABC * * * * * Just In * Watch Live * Coronavirus * Politics * World * Business * Analysis * Sport * Science * Health * Arts * Fact Check * Other News HomeABC News Homepage The easy way to rein in Facebook and Google? Stop them gobbling up competitors Share Article share options Share this on * Facebook * Twitter * LinkedIn Send this by * Email * Messenger * Copy link * WhatsApp News Ticker Breaking news NSW has recorded 238 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases. Another seven people have died with the virus COVID blog Follow our live coverage for the latest news on the coronavirus pandemic Vic exposure sites Keep up to date with the latest COVID-19 exposure sites in Victoria 1 / of 3 Get breaking news alerts directly to your phone with our app analysis The easy way to rein in Facebook and Google? Stop them gobbling up competitors The Conversation / By Peter Martin Posted 5h ago5 hours agoTue 19 Oct 2021 at 6:00pm Picture of a smartphone screen with apps including facebook, instagram and youtubePicture of a smartphone screen with apps including facebook, instagram and youtube Facebook and Google act like organisations terrified they are about to peak. But we can make it harder for them to buy growth.(RN) Help keep family & friends informed by sharing this article Print content (*)Print with images and other media ( )Print text only PrintCancel abc.net.au/news/ rein-in-big-tech-facebook-google-acquiring-competitors/100551354 Copy linkShare Article share options Share this on * Facebook * Twitter * LinkedIn Send this by * Email * Messenger * Copy link * WhatsApp Few of us who have survived the last year aren't grateful for technology. Zoom, email, connected workplaces and solid internet connections at home have made it possible to work, shop, study and carry on our lives in a way that wouldn't have been possible had the pandemic hit, say, 20 years earlier. But parts of big tech -- the parts that track us and drive us to think dangerous and antisocial things just so we keep clicking -- are doing us enormous damage. Although it might seem like we can't have the best of both worlds -- the connectivity without the damage -- I reckon we can. But we are going to have to change the way we think about big tech. The first thing is to recognise that big tech is intrinsically weak. Yes, weak. The second is that it has only become strong each time we have let it. By "big tech" I mean Facebook and Google and related companies such as Instagram and YouTube (owned by Facebook and Google respectively). The firms that came before them were indeed weak in the sense that they didn't have a guaranteed future. Think back to Netscape, Myspace , MSN and all those other montholiths we were told at the time would become natural monopolies. Close up of Frances Haugen giving testimony.Close up of Frances Haugen giving testimony. Whistleblower Frances Haugen told Congress that Facebook's products harm children and fuel polarisation in the US.(Reuters: Drew Angerer) Terrified of losing its edge Much of the behaviour revealed by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen this past month is that of a market leader terrified it is losing its edge. It switched what it showed away from news towards posts that inflamed and enraged people in 2018, with "unhealthy side effects on important slices of public content" in part because users had begun to interact less with it. A graph about girls' body image from an internal Facebook reportA graph about girls' body image from an internal Facebook report Extract from internal Facebook report.(Wall Street Journal, US Senate Commerce Committee) Facebook knew that "we make body image issues worse", in the words of one of its memos, but did little to change the way Instagram worked. In part this was because teens spent 50 per cent more time on Instagram than Facebook. Instagram looked like the future. When engagement on Instagram started flagging, Facebook developed plans for Instagram Kids, seeing pre-teens as "a valuable but untapped audience". These don't sound like the actions of a company confident of staying on top. And nor does its initial purchase of Instagram in 2012 when it could have started its own photo-sharing service on mobiles, leveraging all that it had. Facebook 'turned off misinformation tool' after US election Frances Haugen in a TV interview.Frances Haugen in a TV interview. Facebook rushed to turn off misinformation safeguards after the US presidential election, and has internal research that its platform magnifies hate and misinformation, a whistleblower alleges. Read more Facebook also bought WhatsApp in 2014 because its own messaging platform, Messenger, was losing ground. It couldn't grow anything as big by itself, because when firms grow beyond a certain size they turn sluggish, bureaucratic. Google got bigger by buying DoubleClick (the platform it uses to sell the advertisements that drive its income) and all manner of emerging platforms including Android, YouTube, Waze and Quickoffice. They are the actions of a hungry company, but not one supremely confident of staying at the top. Australian academic Stephen King, a former member of Australia's Competition and Consumer Commission and a current commissioner with its Productivity Commission, says we need to apply special tougher rules to takeovers by companies such as Google and Facebook. Big tech grows bigger by takeovers Usually we only block takeovers where the target is big. Instagram and WhatsApp were small. Instagram reportedly had 13 full-time employees at the time of its takeover, WhatsApp reportedly had 55. Yet Facebook paid billions for them. In the US and the UK both takeovers were waived through. Big tech companies can do things with tiny takeover targets others can't. Takeovers can give them access to vast networks of existing users and their data. Facebook excessive power Stephen Scheeler, wearing a black t-shirt in front of a glass wall, reflecting the Sydney Harbour Bridge.Stephen Scheeler, wearing a black t-shirt in front of a glass wall, reflecting the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Mark Zuckerberg has "unprecedented" power and lacks accountability, according to Facebook Australia's former boss Stephen Scheeler, who was the oldest employee the company had recruited. Read more As King puts it, Instagram is big because it was acquired by Facebook, not because Instagram was necessarily the best target. In Europe the authorities were on to this possibility and approved the takeover of WhatsApp only after Facebook informed them it would be "unable to establish reliable automated matching between Facebook users' accounts and WhatsApp users' accounts". This statement was incorrect, Facebook has done it, and paid the European Commission EUR110 million for providing incorrect or misleading information. Had Australia been tougher, had the US, the UK and the European Commission been tougher, Facebook and Google would be nothing like the behemoths they have become today. They might have peaked and be losing market share. We are able to say no Their future is largely in our hands. For big tech companies able to use the weight of their networks (and only for those companies) we could "just say no" to takeovers. It's hard to think of a reason for one to proceed. If needed, we could change the law to make "no" the default. This wouldn't shrink the companies in a hurry. Most of the users of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and the like are locked in, because that's where their friends are. But where the friends are changes every generation. Facebook and Google know this, which is why they are so keen to take over upstart competitors and emerging platforms in fields they haven't thought of. If we stopped them, we wouldn't stop them growing straight away, but we would make it hard for them to fight the natural order in which the new and fashionable displace the old and predictable. It's their deepest fear. Peter Martin is visiting fellow at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University. This article originally appeared on The Conversation. Posted 5h ago5 hours agoTue 19 Oct 2021 at 6:00pm Share * Copy link * Facebook * Twitter * Article share options Share this on + Facebook + Twitter + LinkedIn Send this by + Email + Messenger + Copy link + WhatsApp Related Stories Facebook rushed to ditch misinformation safeguards after US election, whistleblower alleges Frances Haugen in a TV interview.Frances Haugen in a TV interview. 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Victoria records 1,841 new local COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths A man walks near the water on a sunny day in Docklands.A man walks near the water on a sunny day in Docklands. 4. 4. Ron knew the carved panels in the Sotheby's catalogue were smuggled. The NZ government had to fight to get them back Five intricately carved wooden panels spotlit in a dark room. Five intricately carved wooden panels spotlit in a dark room. 5. 5. 'I don't care about that man': Ben Simmons kicked out of training as 76ers' patience runs out Basketball player in singlet and track pants with his hands on his knees.Basketball player in singlet and track pants with his hands on his knees. 6. 6. The pandemic won't end with a bang, but more likely a fizzle. Here's how A young non-binary person hanging an open sign from the door of a small bakery.A young non-binary person hanging an open sign from the door of a small bakery. Top Stories Ron knew the carved panels in the Sotheby's catalogue were smuggled. 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