Game on people – US wants Facebook to sell WhatsApp and Instagram: “The case makes reference to an email from Mark Zuckerberg, sent in 2008, in which he said “it is better to buy than compete”. The FTC’s lawyers argue that Facebook has acted in accordance with that strategy, tracking its rivals and buying them when they become big enough to be threats.” Is this a good playbook for the government?
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Comment #1: Lol, strategically thinking it’s actually better to buy than to compete. Truth remains that while Facebook’s ownership of WhatsApp and Facebook may be anti-competitive and Monopolistic, the reality is that that moat still creates a better user experience for their users.
Plus, there’s really no reason to stress too much about competition, the core platform itself (Facebook) isn’t as strong as it used to be, especially with Younger Millennials, Instagram is still a fledgling platform – but Facebook hasn’t necessarily found a way to deal with competition from TikTok, Netflix (yes Netflix) and all the other things young people do as against using any of Facebook’s platforms.
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Facebook isn’t as formidable as they used to be, LIBRA would have been great if Regulation didn’t kill that and Facebook Shops is a huge opportunity, they could push massively here in Africa with the rise of Social eCommerce (since more than 70% of that is happening on their platforms) – what they’re pushing now in Nigeria since they started here is Sabi (Edtech product) which is great, but I think they should look more into the social commerce space where they already have a competitive advantage.
Summary: they should be policed not broken up.
My Response: it is always delightful reading you. I will agree on WhatsApp. The reason why WhatsApp is amazing is because Facebook Inc is making money from other places to keep it free and ad-free. I am not sure there are many companies in the world that can buy it without putting adverts on it. This type of case takes ages. I expect the FTC to be worried about TikTok than Facebook by the time they go into half time.
Comment #2: Ndubuisi Ekekwe exactly none of us are bombarded with ads on WhatsApp (a more private service) because someone else is footing the bill.
No matter how small, charging users to use WhatsApp will have an adverse effect on adoption. The truth remains that while anti-competitive, some of these complex ecosystem and platform plays by Big Tech companies are actually helping consumers much more than regulators think.
Police Facebook, don’t break.
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