#Monopoly money series
#Monopoly money free

ThatвЂ™s a better experience for consumers. Is Bigger Better? Google argues that search has evolved from the 10-blue-links format of yesteryear into a product that more readily surfaces the exact results people are looking for. In Europe, Google already has been fined $2.7 billion for violating antitrust regulations, with more cases still pending. Now, with a new set of commissioners in place, lawmakers are advocating that the organization take a second look. The Federal Trade Commission already investigated Google early in the decade but decided not to bring antitrust charges. Yelp and Microsoft have been the most vocal corporate critics of the companyвЂ™s dominance (Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman was the stand-in for aggrieved startups everywhere in that 60 Minutes segment). WhoвЂ™s After Them: As GoogleвЂ™s search market share has grown, so has the target on its back. Using monopoly power in one field to bulldoze your way into another is a classic antitrust no-no. Some antitrust experts argue this favoritism allows Google to leverage its search dominance to boost its other lines of business, such as its Shopping and Maps platforms. Critics argue that Google favors its own content in search results over competitorsвЂ™-when you look for a nearby restaurant, for example, youвЂ™re going to see a lot of Google-curated options in a prominent information box before you get to the Yelp links below. Where They Dominate: GoogleвЂ™s namesake search engine has no peer, with about 90 percent market share globally and more than 85 percent in the United States.

#Monopoly money series

It may not be likely, but building a series of companies collectively worth trillions of dollars out of West Coast garages and Ivy League dorm rooms wasnвЂ™t too likely in the first place. вЂњIt may be a click away, but apparently people hate to click.вЂќДЄfter talking to some antitrust experts and surveying the current political rumblings, we made this breakdown of the tech giantsвЂ™ current legal troubles and envisioned a world in which they really do get broken up. вЂњAll these platform companies are making every effort to keep us from switching,вЂќ says Harry First, a law professor at New York University. The tech giants, which have largely been allowed to grow unfettered since the Microsoft lawsuit, often argue that a competing option is just a click away.Д«ut that reasoning looks increasingly specious in an era when Google functions as a verb, Facebook owns two of the biggest social networks, and Amazon is powering a huge portion of the internet.

#Monopoly money free

ItвЂ™s an especially tricky argument to make against firms that offer free or cheap services via the internet. вЂњ doesnвЂ™t allow one to just break you up because youвЂ™re big and youвЂ™re powerful.вЂќД®ven if the worldвЂ™s most powerful companies have amassed monopoly power in certain sectors, regulators must prove that they exert that power in a way that harms consumers or stifles competition. вЂњThereвЂ™s no legal basis for breaking a company up just because of its size,вЂќ says Daniel Rubinfeld, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who served as chief economist for the Justice DepartmentвЂ™s antitrust division during its 1998 lawsuit against Microsoft. Lindsey Graham asked Mark Zuckerberg whether Facebook was a monopoly at a congressional hearing in April.Дespite growing anxiety about Silicon ValleyвЂ™s outsize influence, вЂњbig is badвЂќ doesnвЂ™t hold up as an argument for antitrust enforcement.

Keith Ellison called on the Federal Trade Commission last week to investigate GoogleвЂ™s businesses practices, while Republican Sen. More importantly, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are agitating for regulatory action. Columns calling for the breakup of Google, Facebook, or Amazon are now common in national media outlets. A 60 Minutes segment in May explored whether Google is abusing monopoly power with its ubiquitous search engine. Industry watchers are less concerned with tech companiesвЂ™ science fiction fantasies than their potentially illegal activity. 2013 was likely the apex of heady optimism about the boundless opportunities of technology.ДЇive years later, the mood has shifted. That same year CNN marveled at FacebookвЂ™s plan to connect the entire world to the internet and Time wondered if Google might one day cure death.

ItвЂ™s been half a decade since Amazon announced its drone delivery service on 60 Minutes, during a segment so giddy it could have been retitled Tech Does the Darndest Things.