VIEW: Big tech needs regulation but government action no solution – By Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar (The Economic Times) / Oct 25 2020
Synopsis: Some aspects of the internet giants (including Google) should be regulated. Their tax loopholes should be closed. But the reason is less their monopoly power than unanticipated side-effects such as privacy problems and proliferation of hate speech and falsehoods.
I am among those favouring regulation of the internet giants — Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft — because of their humungous control of viewers’ data (raising issues of privacy and national security) and unintended role in spreading falsehoods and hate speech. But I am sceptical of the US government’s move to prosecute and break up Google, claiming advertisers and viewers are harmed by its being “the unchallenged gateway to the internet for billions of users worldwide”.
A brilliant policy paper by Ryan Bourne of the Cato Institute, ‘Is This Time Different’, shows that anti-monopoly cases can end farcically, with the supposed monopoly being ousted by new innovations. Economist Joseph Schumpeter said the “creative destruction” of innovation constantly killed established giants, creating new ones. Innovation, rather than government controls on market share, was the key killer of monopolies.
IBM seemed a classic monopolist in mainframe computers in the 1970s. An anti-trust case against IBM lasted 13 years but then collapsed since the personal computer and laptop killed IBM’s supposed mainframe monopoly. They are in turn threatened by the smartphone.
Continue to article: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/view-big-tech-needs-regulation-but-government-action-no-solution/articleshow/78853300.cms
