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In 2018, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft spent 70.9 million dollars on lobbying and supporting candidate. (Photo: Screenshot)
Why We Need to Break Up Big Tech
Monopolies aren’t good for anyone except for the monopolists, especially when they can influence our elections and control how Americans receive information
Jun 25, 2019
The combined wealth of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and Google's Sergey Brin, and Larry Page is larger than the combined wealth of the bottom half of the American population.
They are the leaders of a second Gilded Age - ushered in by semiconductors, software and the internet - which has spawned a handful of hi-tech behemoths and crushed competition.
As of today, only three countries in the world have a GDP higher than these companies' combined market value of approximately 4 trillion dollars.
America's first Gilded Age began in the late nineteenth century with a raft of innovations - railroads, steel production, oil extraction - that culminated in mammoth trusts run by "robber barons" like J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and William Vanderbilt.
The answer then was to break up the railroad, oil, and steel monopolies.
The answer today is the same: Break Up Big Tech.
First: They have a stranglehold on the economy.
Nearly 90 percent of all internet searches now go through Google. Facebook and Google together will account for nearly 60 percent of all digital ad spendingin 2019 (where most ad money goes these days).
They're also the first stops for many Americans seeking news (93 percent of Americans say they receive at least some news online). Amazon is now the first stop for almost half of all American consumers seeking to buy anything online.
With such size comes the power to stifle innovation.
Google uses its search engine to promote its own productsand content over those of its competitors, like Yelp. Facebook's purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram killed off two potential rivals. Apple stifles competition in its App Store.
Partly because of this economic concentration, the rate that new job-creating businesses have formed in the United States has almost halved since 2004, according to the Census Bureau.
Second: Such size also gives these giant corporations political power to get whatever they want, undermining our democracy.
In 2018, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft spent 70.9 million dollars on lobbying and supporting candidates.
As a result, Amazon - the richest corporation in America- paid nothing in federal taxes last year. Meanwhile, it held a bidding war to extort billions from states and cities eager to have its second headquarters.
Not to mention, these companies have tremendous influence over how Americans receive information. And as we've seen, Facebook and Google have enabled the manipulation of our elections.
Third: Giant tech companies also hurt the environment.
Finally: Their huge wealth isn't being shared with most of their workers.
Nine in 10 workers in Silicon Valley make less now than they did in 1997, adjusted for inflation. And many are part of the "working homeless." That is, people who work full time and yet are still homeless.
The answer is to break them up. That way, information would be distributed through a large number of independent channels instead of a centralized platform. And more startups could flourish.
Even one of Facebook's founders has called for the social media behemoth to be broken up.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has introduced a proposal to do just that. It would force tech giants to open up their platforms to more competition or break up into smaller companies.
Other countries are already taking on Big Tech. The European Union fined Google nearly 3 billion dollars for antitrust violations in 2017.
Let's be clear: Monopolies aren't good for anyone except for the monopolists, especially when they can influence our elections and control how Americans receive information.
In this new Gilded Age, we need to respond to them as forcefully as we did to the monopolies of the first Gilded Age and break them up.
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Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
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Robert Reich
Robert Reich is professor emeritus of public policy at Berkeley and former US secretary of labor. His latest book is the No. 1 New York Times best-seller, "Coming Up Short."
environmentfacebookgoogleinequalityjeff bezosmark zuckerbergmediamicrosoftrobert reichtechnologyworkers
The combined wealth of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and Google's Sergey Brin, and Larry Page is larger than the combined wealth of the bottom half of the American population.
They are the leaders of a second Gilded Age - ushered in by semiconductors, software and the internet - which has spawned a handful of hi-tech behemoths and crushed competition.
As of today, only three countries in the world have a GDP higher than these companies' combined market value of approximately 4 trillion dollars.
America's first Gilded Age began in the late nineteenth century with a raft of innovations - railroads, steel production, oil extraction - that culminated in mammoth trusts run by "robber barons" like J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and William Vanderbilt.
The answer then was to break up the railroad, oil, and steel monopolies.
The answer today is the same: Break Up Big Tech.
First: They have a stranglehold on the economy.
Nearly 90 percent of all internet searches now go through Google. Facebook and Google together will account for nearly 60 percent of all digital ad spendingin 2019 (where most ad money goes these days).
They're also the first stops for many Americans seeking news (93 percent of Americans say they receive at least some news online). Amazon is now the first stop for almost half of all American consumers seeking to buy anything online.
With such size comes the power to stifle innovation.
Google uses its search engine to promote its own productsand content over those of its competitors, like Yelp. Facebook's purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram killed off two potential rivals. Apple stifles competition in its App Store.
Partly because of this economic concentration, the rate that new job-creating businesses have formed in the United States has almost halved since 2004, according to the Census Bureau.
Second: Such size also gives these giant corporations political power to get whatever they want, undermining our democracy.
In 2018, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft spent 70.9 million dollars on lobbying and supporting candidates.
As a result, Amazon - the richest corporation in America- paid nothing in federal taxes last year. Meanwhile, it held a bidding war to extort billions from states and cities eager to have its second headquarters.
Not to mention, these companies have tremendous influence over how Americans receive information. And as we've seen, Facebook and Google have enabled the manipulation of our elections.
Third: Giant tech companies also hurt the environment.
Finally: Their huge wealth isn't being shared with most of their workers.
Nine in 10 workers in Silicon Valley make less now than they did in 1997, adjusted for inflation. And many are part of the "working homeless." That is, people who work full time and yet are still homeless.
The answer is to break them up. That way, information would be distributed through a large number of independent channels instead of a centralized platform. And more startups could flourish.
Even one of Facebook's founders has called for the social media behemoth to be broken up.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has introduced a proposal to do just that. It would force tech giants to open up their platforms to more competition or break up into smaller companies.
Other countries are already taking on Big Tech. The European Union fined Google nearly 3 billion dollars for antitrust violations in 2017.
Let's be clear: Monopolies aren't good for anyone except for the monopolists, especially when they can influence our elections and control how Americans receive information.
In this new Gilded Age, we need to respond to them as forcefully as we did to the monopolies of the first Gilded Age and break them up.
Robert Reich
Robert Reich is professor emeritus of public policy at Berkeley and former US secretary of labor. His latest book is the No. 1 New York Times best-seller, "Coming Up Short."
The combined wealth of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and Google's Sergey Brin, and Larry Page is larger than the combined wealth of the bottom half of the American population.
They are the leaders of a second Gilded Age - ushered in by semiconductors, software and the internet - which has spawned a handful of hi-tech behemoths and crushed competition.
As of today, only three countries in the world have a GDP higher than these companies' combined market value of approximately 4 trillion dollars.
America's first Gilded Age began in the late nineteenth century with a raft of innovations - railroads, steel production, oil extraction - that culminated in mammoth trusts run by "robber barons" like J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and William Vanderbilt.
The answer then was to break up the railroad, oil, and steel monopolies.
The answer today is the same: Break Up Big Tech.
First: They have a stranglehold on the economy.
Nearly 90 percent of all internet searches now go through Google. Facebook and Google together will account for nearly 60 percent of all digital ad spendingin 2019 (where most ad money goes these days).
They're also the first stops for many Americans seeking news (93 percent of Americans say they receive at least some news online). Amazon is now the first stop for almost half of all American consumers seeking to buy anything online.
With such size comes the power to stifle innovation.
Google uses its search engine to promote its own productsand content over those of its competitors, like Yelp. Facebook's purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram killed off two potential rivals. Apple stifles competition in its App Store.
Partly because of this economic concentration, the rate that new job-creating businesses have formed in the United States has almost halved since 2004, according to the Census Bureau.
Second: Such size also gives these giant corporations political power to get whatever they want, undermining our democracy.
In 2018, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft spent 70.9 million dollars on lobbying and supporting candidates.
As a result, Amazon - the richest corporation in America- paid nothing in federal taxes last year. Meanwhile, it held a bidding war to extort billions from states and cities eager to have its second headquarters.
Not to mention, these companies have tremendous influence over how Americans receive information. And as we've seen, Facebook and Google have enabled the manipulation of our elections.
Third: Giant tech companies also hurt the environment.
Finally: Their huge wealth isn't being shared with most of their workers.
Nine in 10 workers in Silicon Valley make less now than they did in 1997, adjusted for inflation. And many are part of the "working homeless." That is, people who work full time and yet are still homeless.
The answer is to break them up. That way, information would be distributed through a large number of independent channels instead of a centralized platform. And more startups could flourish.
Even one of Facebook's founders has called for the social media behemoth to be broken up.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has introduced a proposal to do just that. It would force tech giants to open up their platforms to more competition or break up into smaller companies.
Other countries are already taking on Big Tech. The European Union fined Google nearly 3 billion dollars for antitrust violations in 2017.
Let's be clear: Monopolies aren't good for anyone except for the monopolists, especially when they can influence our elections and control how Americans receive information.
In this new Gilded Age, we need to respond to them as forcefully as we did to the monopolies of the first Gilded Age and break them up.
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