UK CMA: Facebook and Google Too Dominant

[engine]

The UK's CMA (Competition and Market Authority) has published the results of a year long investigation in which is says Facebook and Google have too much power, and it wants the UK Government to introduce a new pro-competition regulatory regime.

The services provided by Facebook and Google are highly valued by consumers and help many small businesses to reach new customers. While both originally grew by offering better services than the main platforms in the market at the time, the CMA is concerned that they have developed such unassailable market positions that rivals can no longer compete on equal terms:

[gov.uk...]

Having read the document, which is UK only, it's not at all dissimilar to the issues in most other regions are facing.

[RhinoFish]

They going to do the same for the Royal Family? No competition there either.

And hey, Cambridge Univ has too many Nobel prize winners, it's not fair. Wah!

"wants the UK Government to introduce a new pro-competition regulatory regime"
In the UK, Is there something stopping competitors from making a better FB or G?

[brotherhood of LAN]

In the UK, Is there something stopping competitors from making a better FB or G?

If you read the actual report, they do provide compelling arguments as to why competitors are at a disadvantage, in fact that's pretty much the purpose of their entire research into the matter. It's not an elevator pitch.

The scenario they describe is not exclusive to the UK.

[graeme_p]

Is there something stopping competitors from making a better FB or G

Yes. What economists call network effects. There are lots of good articles on them.

The short version is rhat if you make a better social network no one will use it unless their friends do it, and the friends are waiting for their friends to use it etc.

On top of that they have advantages like accumulated user data.

The same principle applies to things like telephone networks, which is why governments force telecoms companies to inter-operate (and even that has not always been enough to preserve competition).