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Facebook is a monopoly that buys, copies, kills competitors: antitrust committee

cnbc.com

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Re: Facebook is a monopoly that buys, copies, kills competitors: antitrust committee

#141

Post by jakub_g »

leetcrew wrote: post #129
anoncake wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really a problem with the EU. Its member states still compete with each other too much, companies shouldn't be able to shop around for the laxest labour laws like that.

preface: likely an ignorant opinion from an american. from across the pond, it looks like the richer EU countries (eg, germany) essentially want to have it both ways. they want to have strong worker protections and prevent poorer EU countries from enabling labor arbitrage, all while having relatively unencumbered trade within the EU. at the same time, they don't want to provide the economic aid to the poorer countrie…

This is absolutely true. Another example:

- French (and German) companies own most of supermarket chains in Poland: good.

- Polish long-distance truck delivery companies are among the most competitive in EU due to lower costs of workforce: bad, France has been lobbying hard against them for years.

Re: Facebook is a monopoly that buys, copies, kills competitors: antitrust committee

#142

Post by cryptica »

durnygbur wrote: post #27

Facebook platform is evil and no one doubts it at this point. Amazon is predatory for everyone - merchants, warehouse employees, IT employees, job candidates. Google screwed the recruitment irrevocably and what's worse every minor shop attempts to copy their processes. Microsoft temporarily plays the nice guy. Then we have this whole dating thing entirely owned by one media hegemon. All together pay minuscle taxes. .…

Facebook is not evil at all. Their mission to connect the world. Sometimes it means making unpopular decisions but they're doing what's right for the long term.

Re: Facebook is a monopoly that buys, copies, kills competitors: antitrust committee

#143

Post by cryptica »

pyrrhotech wrote: post #89
durnygbur wrote: post #27

Facebook platform is evil and no one doubts it at this point. Amazon is predatory for everyone - merchants, warehouse employees, IT employees, job candidates. Google screwed the recruitment irrevocably and what's worse every minor shop attempts to copy their processes. Microsoft temporarily plays the nice guy. Then we have this whole dating thing entirely owned by one media hegemon. All together pay minuscle taxes. .…

Amazon is not predatory to me. It has greatly improved my life from a convenience and cost perspective. They also recently raised their wages for all warehouse employees such that it's one of the best places to work for unskilled labor in many locations. Amazon has made many small time merchants rich through their platform, and it's software engineers are among the highest paid in the industry, so I have to strongly…

Amazon is a great company. They've created an incredible amount of value both for themselves and their merchants. They've been consistently helping small businesses and giving them a fighting chance. They've created so many jobs in the process. Doing the right thing is part of their business model.

Re: Facebook is a monopoly that buys, copies, kills competitors: antitrust committee

#144

Post by dhyreueu »

mthoms wrote: post #122
dhyreueu wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not addicted to Facebook you just don't like that the social landscape is changing. Calling people was terrible compared to the convenience of social media, sure it was more intimate but most people aren't looking for intimacy in every interaction they have with their friends. A lot of the time they just want to shoot the breeze. People like memes, seeing what trendy garbage with avacado on top their friends…

>They're not addicted >I recognize that some people do get addicted >the only thing they're addicted to if anything is convenience Since you're a bit err.. "conflicted" on this subject, you might want to read some research. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=social+media+addiction&...

Or maybe, just maybe, it's a nuanced subject and I was acknowledging that there are people who do suffer from actual social media addiction while contesting the notion that the majority, or even a large minority, of social media users are addicts and not simply people who get enjoyment and utility out of the platform.

Re: Facebook is a monopoly that buys, copies, kills competitors: antitrust committee

#146

Post by zepto »

pyrrhotech wrote: post #89
durnygbur wrote: post #27

Facebook platform is evil and no one doubts it at this point. Amazon is predatory for everyone - merchants, warehouse employees, IT employees, job candidates. Google screwed the recruitment irrevocably and what's worse every minor shop attempts to copy their processes. Microsoft temporarily plays the nice guy. Then we have this whole dating thing entirely owned by one media hegemon. All together pay minuscle taxes. .…

Amazon is not predatory to me. It has greatly improved my life from a convenience and cost perspective. They also recently raised their wages for all warehouse employees such that it's one of the best places to work for unskilled labor in many locations. Amazon has made many small time merchants rich through their platform, and it's software engineers are among the highest paid in the industry, so I have to strongly…

None of the points you made actually contradict the claim that Amazon is predatory.

Re: Facebook is a monopoly that buys, copies, kills competitors: antitrust committee

#147

Post by pwinnski »

pyrrhotech wrote: post #89
durnygbur wrote: post #27

Facebook platform is evil and no one doubts it at this point. Amazon is predatory for everyone - merchants, warehouse employees, IT employees, job candidates. Google screwed the recruitment irrevocably and what's worse every minor shop attempts to copy their processes. Microsoft temporarily plays the nice guy. Then we have this whole dating thing entirely owned by one media hegemon. All together pay minuscle taxes. .…

Amazon is not predatory to me. It has greatly improved my life from a convenience and cost perspective. They also recently raised their wages for all warehouse employees such that it's one of the best places to work for unskilled labor in many locations. Amazon has made many small time merchants rich through their platform, and it's software engineers are among the highest paid in the industry, so I have to strongly…

This comment won't leave my head. I think the unspoken, perhaps unrealized, context for this comment is the idea that a company must be predatory to everyone in order to be actually-predatory.

A company that is predatory to literally everyone would not survive long. Obviously any predatory company must benefit one or more groups at the expense of others, or else how could they exist?

I mean, I think Facebook is terrible, but clearly many people find some benefit, or Facebook wouldn't have the billion-plus users they do. I don't deny that some people find benefit from Facebook, I just don't think that benefit outweighs the cost to society.

So Amazon is not predatory to parent commenter. In many ways, they're not predatory directly to me, either! I order goods from them at times, I use AWS, and overall I might argue that my life is better with Amazon than without. But my personal experiences aren't definitive. In order to benefit me, Amazon, by all reports, is preying on others. Competitors, suppliers, employees, and so on.

Re: Facebook is a monopoly that buys, copies, kills competitors: antitrust committee

#148

Post by jmole »

cryptica wrote: post #142
durnygbur wrote: post #27

Facebook platform is evil and no one doubts it at this point. Amazon is predatory for everyone - merchants, warehouse employees, IT employees, job candidates. Google screwed the recruitment irrevocably and what's worse every minor shop attempts to copy their processes. Microsoft temporarily plays the nice guy. Then we have this whole dating thing entirely owned by one media hegemon. All together pay minuscle taxes. .…

Facebook is not evil at all. Their mission to connect the world. Sometimes it means making unpopular decisions but they're doing what's right for the long term.

In practice, this means monopolizing identity. Facebook wants to become the source of truth for identity on the social web. This is why you can't use their products without an account, now including Oculus, which you can't use without a Facebook account that has a "Real Name" policy.

Re: Facebook is a monopoly that buys, copies, kills competitors: antitrust committee

#150

Post by Redoubts »

durnygbur wrote: post #50
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Then we have this whole dating thing entirely owned by one media hegemon. This scares the hell out of me that one mega conglomerate with it's algorithms has control over your procreation and deep knowledge of your sex life, all linked to your real identity. Personally, I have no dog in this fight since I gave up on online dating and got good at IRL dating(pre-COVID) but I am aware of plenty of men willing to throw t…

Wait until Tinder bans your "account" which is basically a broad fingerprint of your physical device, Google/Apple account (from the play/app store), phone number, and WiFi details. Then you can turn paranoid.

It's hard to believe they can do this, but can't even reign in copy & paste profile spammers.
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