Would breaking up 'big tech' work? What would?

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TLDR

  • Benedict Evans examines whether breaking up large tech companies would address antitrust concerns, and what alternatives might actually work.

Key Takeaways

  • The question is not just whether to break up big tech, but whether breakups would solve the identified problems.
  • Different concerns about big tech, such as market power, data concentration, and platform control, may require different remedies.
  • Structural separation and behavioral remedies are distinct tools with different tradeoffs and enforcement challenges.
  • The definition of the relevant market shapes which remedy seems appropriate, and that definition is itself contested.

Why It Matters

  • Antitrust policy for tech platforms is actively being debated by regulators in the US and EU, with real legislative and enforcement consequences.
  • Founders and operators building on top of large platforms face structural risk depending on how these debates resolve.
  • The framing of the problem, monopoly, data, or gatekeeper power, determines which policy tools get applied.

Benedict Evans · ** · Read the original