Was Facebook’s Monopoly Considered Less Monopolistic Because it Was Free?

ByShaun Snapp

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Executive Summary

  • Facebook’s business model is based on surveillance and lying to users about how their data is used.
  • This article explains why this is the case.

Introduction

As Facebook faces a DOJ lawsuit for monopolistic behavior, what will happen is Facebook’s business model will be highlighted to more of a degree than before. Facebook was able to stay out of regulation because it does not charge for accessing its website.

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Facebook’s Monopoly Was Considered Less Monopolistic Because it Was Free?

Dina Srinivasan makes the point that one reason that Facebook has been able to escape anti-trust action for so long while being widely known as a monopoly is that Facebook does not charge its users.

Facebook dominates the life of the average American—99% of adults that use any form of social media use Facebook, and the average American now spends over an hour per day on Facebook applications

In digital markets where consumers do not pay a price, (emphasis added) antitrust enforcement must become comfortable with a paradigm that focuses on quality. Never before have we had to grapple with one of the most valuable companies in the world, a half trillion-dollar market cap company, 27 that provides important communications services to over 2 billion consumers but charges no price.

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Conclusion

Facebook does not charge its users, but it sells its user’s information to advertisers. Facebook has a monopoly on social media. Microsoft’s LinkedIn dominates that innate the business social media sector, as Microsoft’s LinkedIn dominates that. However, outside of this area of social media, its users’ privacy, Dina Srinivasan clearly demonstrates how Facebook reduced its users’ privacy as it consolidated its market dominance.

This topic not only applies to Facebook but to Google as well.

Dina Srinivasan receives our score of 10 out of 10 for accuracy.