Facebook sued for predatory conduct by US government States
US and EU Antitrust lawsuits against Facebook have served to revive the controversy that such measures have generated in the past. The Standard Oil case of 1911, for example, continues to divide opinions more than a century later. John D. Rockefeller's company would have used its dominant position and anti-competitive practices to exploit other companies. This, in turn, justified the court's antitrust action.
The popular myth is that Standard Oil engaged in predatory behavior when buying competing refineries and then raising prices above the competitive level. But prices didn't go up after Standard Oil acquired other refineries. Prices went down, as usual for new products.
facebook in trouble
The reason Rockefeller bought these refineries was not, then, to lead to an artificial price hike, under conditions of unfair competition. In fact, I was concerned about the inferior and dangerous way in which some refiners manufactured kerosene, the main product of that time.
Therefore, the entrepreneur was interested in buying the lower quality refineries and improving them to produce a higher kerosene standard, as well as a long list of other petroleum products that were developed later.
Secondly, against Standard Oil, it was alleged that the company coerced rail price discounts for the shipment of crude oil and kerosene. What is generally not mentioned, however, is that railways in the 19th century were trying to form a sign to charge prices above the market. Because Standard Oil was a national corporation that carried a lot of crude oil and kerosene on the railways, it was in a good position to encourage some members of the railway cartel to "cheat," no longer charging overprices.
How far it will go The U.S. House of Representatives has criticized Google and other tech giants. He published a 449-page scathing report on his allegedly anti-competitive practices. A multi-state coalition, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, is conducting its own google investigation.
In the case of Facebook, the lawsuits focus on the company's role in collecting data, to supposedly maintain its monopoly power. The complaints describe how this supposed power gives you "broad freedom" to create the terms in which you can collect and use your users' information.
These lawsuits argue that Facebook may do as it pleases with user data to serve its own business interests because users have no alternatives to turn to, even if they prefer other data practices.
Lawsuits against Facebook and Google show how important these companies have become to how Americans connect with each other and seek information. What more than a century ago was the power of oil, today is the power of information networks.
