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fnord77

the government really doesn't like a challenge to its power.

as seen from past antitrust actions, I expect much of "big tech" to be thoroughly dismantled.

alphabet will be chopped up along business lines. Each business will have to develop its own independent ad system.

facebook will be forced to spin off their acqs and separate completely from them.

amazon and AWS will be split, obviously.

dunno about apple. at least split their entertainment businesses from their hardware businesses.

This will be a great opportunity for startups who might otherwise never would have a chance.

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These companies aren't a challenge to government power in the US, on the contrary they are a powerful tool for social control. The relationship between massive corporate cartels and the US government has become so incestuous that a distinction can hardly be made, it's just a question of faction in-fighting at this point. The centralization/monopolization of the tech industry makes it more convenient to conduct mass surveillance, as evidenced by PRISM. Its safe to infer at this point that all major tech companies in the US are already infested with alphabet spooks, there's no incentive to break them up as far as the feds (that actually matter) are concerned. Just partisan barking with no bite for the sake of 'optics'.

> These companies aren't a challenge to government power in the US, on the contrary they are a powerful tool for social control.

In a sense I'd say that they are now a branch of government.

Even if not really a branch, it's remember that big companies dominating whole market segments are important geopolitical assets for countries which those companies call "home".

I really would like to believe your prophecy but want to offer a few rebuttals...

> the government really doesn't like a challenge to its power.

But the government as a whole hasn't really made up its mind. There are a few junior congresspeople who are vocal about monopoly problems with Big Tech. But senior Democrat congresspeople from Big Tech states have not uttered a word against Big Tech. Even senior Republicans, and republicans have been at the receiving end of Big Tech censorship, are loath to antitrust as they have started conflating checks on Big Tech monopoly with checks on free enterprise. In short, government will has not coalesced around antitrust action against Big Tech.

I don't know if Big Tech can be stopped by the government. A possibility I see is that the stock market bubble pops, Fed money printing loses its ability to inflate tech stocks, leading to a decline in Big Tech power.

>But the government as a whole hasn't really made up its mind.

It's probably better to view the 'government' as a coalition of self-interested groups. It's never really monolithic.

Good point, that's really what it is .. a complex entity.

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