A Better Way to Break Up Big Tech | NYT

Step 1: elect a government capable of surgical precision...

"The problem with applying a one-size-fits-four model to tech, as the industry analyst Ben Thompson has written, is that the large tech companies have different business models that pose different anti-competitive risks. The stranglehold that Google and Facebook have on the digital advertising market is different from the way Amazon muscles out e-commerce brands, which is different from the way Apple uses its App Store to force burdensome terms on developers.

The possibility of unintended consequences means that tailoring regulations to address each of these problems is important. A law that banned Amazon from competing with third-party sellers on its platform could also cripple Chromebook laptops, or prevent iPhone users from getting access to their iTunes libraries.

Rather than one giant package that crams everything together, a set of effective tech regulations would treat each problem discretely, and address each with surgical precision."

A Better Way to Break Up Big Tech | NYT