They bought instagram long before they were a proven success. They were instrumental in making instagram a successful business. its not clear that insta would be what it is today without fb.
> But why didn't the FTC intervene
The US did review the case, and determine that insta was not a risk. Its easy in hindsight to say that its obviously a miss, but again, we don't actually know that insta would be big today if it wasn't for the fb resources and industry knowledge they brought.
> Which gave them MUCH more control in the advertising market.
What market share do they have in advertising? Like a number, because between Google, and Amazon, and all the other major networks (oracle, adobe, msft, apple, etc) i can't imagine its so high they can exert a dominating force.
> I expect boomers and the like to not understand this
I'm young and love to disparage old people and the internet, but really age is not an indicator of people understanding things, even the internet. Plenty of boomers "get it", and maybe get business more than some hn commenters... ;)
> but to hear "facebook isn't a monopoly" on HN is fascinating
Review the source linked. It explains clearly that fb doesn't have a dominant market share. Thats what a monopoly is. Its a very HN source.
> How else do you describe the centralisation of the internet via Google and Facebook? Innovation? Really? Despite all the evidence in leaks and statements?
1 ) this is quite an emotional response, that does nothing for the legal basis of a monopoly. Emotional responses are fine, centralization can be scary, but its not a legal response.
2) I wouldn't call it innovation per se, nor would i call it good, per se. BUT i wouldn't call it monopoly either.
aside, i wonder if the internet is really "centralizing" resulting in fewer locations online, or if some locations have just grown so much bigger than others - are there fewer nodes in the graph over time, or did some nodes just grow a lot more.
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Also, not to nit-pick but...
1. Whats app does not collect much user data, so it doesn't really help the "we make money off your data" argument.
2. Using a fb site does not mean you can't use other social networks. They don't compete in a "rivalrous" way - meaning using insta doesn't stop you from using tikTok or youtube or any other network in addition to fb.