George Soros Says Google, Facebook, "Obstacles to Innovation"

[engine]

George Soros hasn't held back in a speech at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, and has been pretty scathing of Facebook and Google. Here's a snippet from the speech, which is in full in the link.

"These companies have often played an innovative and liberating role. But as Facebook and Google have grown into ever more powerful monopolies, they have become obstacles to innovation, and they have caused a variety of problems of which we are only now beginning to become aware." George Soros Says Google, Facebook, "Obstacles to Innovation" [georgesoros.com]

It's interesting that this comes not long after a scathing blog post from long time Googler Steve Yegge [webmasterworld.com]

[graeme_p]

Companies that dominate a market are usually bad for innovation. Companies that can manipulate markets usually do.

The most important point is the network effects which are unusual and which regulators are at a loss to deal with.