A Bleak Future Is Coming, In Which The Tech Giants Will Subjugate Our Lives - Alternative View

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A Bleak Future Is Coming, In Which The Tech Giants Will Subjugate Our Lives - Alternative View
A Bleak Future Is Coming, In Which The Tech Giants Will Subjugate Our Lives - Alternative View

Video: A Bleak Future Is Coming, In Which The Tech Giants Will Subjugate Our Lives - Alternative View

Video: A Bleak Future Is Coming, In Which The Tech Giants Will Subjugate Our Lives - Alternative View
Video: "IT'S HAPPENING, Whether You Like It Or Not!" | Elon Musk (WARNING) 2024, March
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There are increasing concerns that tech companies like Google and Amazon are getting too big and will soon control every aspect of people's lives. There are reasons for concern: Amazon is the world's largest online store, and today the majority of shoppers use its services, and Google owns, in fact, a pre-installed search engine and YouTube service - perhaps the most popular easy-to-learn video hosting and streaming platform.

Both companies influence how people shop (Amazon.com, Google Express), search for information (Google.com), have fun (Amazon Instant Video, Youtube), and access services (Alexa, Amazon Echo, and Google Assistant). If companies are not given the proper attention, they will eventually grow so large that they cannot be stopped. Competition will disappear because the current laws and regulations will not be able to fully control the activities of corporations.

According to USA Today, Amazon accounts for 50 percent of America's book sales, 45 percent of the cloud computing market and 40 percent of the online grocery ordering market. As for Google, the company owns 80 percent of the search market (as of August 2017). As stated earlier, the corporation controls what the user sees in the search results.

Concerns echoed in a speech by FTC Chairman Maureen Olejosen at a Washington anti-monopoly symposium. She stated that "the world is heading towards a bleak future in which several tech giants will take complete control of the economic sphere."

However, Olejosen does not believe in such a disappointing outlook, citing the merger of Internet service provider AOL and media company Time Warner in the 2000s, as a result of which AOL lost its former positions. Having a large market share was not enough to dominate the market. Olejosen argues that while Amazon and Google are expanding through good governance and popularity, there is nothing criminal in their actions from the side of the law, which is designed to protect the interests of consumers.

Control over tech companies

Of course, not everyone agrees with this. The New America Foundation criticizes Amazon for avoiding compliance by drawing consumers' attention to the convenience of its services and low prices.

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“It’s impossible to gauge the potential harm that Amazon does to competition when measured in terms of prices and revenues,” said Lina Khan of Open Markets Program in January.

Speaking to USA Today reporters in June, Khan said she could just as well have let Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos draft antitrust laws so he can easily circumvent them.

It is unknown what powerful companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook will do if competition and laws are no longer a hindrance, but they will certainly continue to expand in unexpected areas.

Oleiosen closed her speech by saying that she and the FTC "strongly support political decisions that sometimes they like and sometimes they don't." Perhaps the time has come for a less enjoyable conversation about the pros and cons of the seemingly unhindered growth of tech companies.

Anton Komarov