Dear Quartz members—
Big Tech is not just big, it is inescapable in modern life. The world’s five most valuable public companies are US technology groups—Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Facebook. Collectively, they touch almost every aspect of our digital activity.
Are they too big? Maybe. Should we be worried? Probably.
For some years, conventional wisdom has held that so long as prices are going down for consumers, it shouldn’t matter how much power companies like Amazon and Google wield or how brutally they annihilate the competition. But those consumer-harm theories of antitrust policy popularized by the Chicago School may be fading in favor of a broader view of Big Tech’s influence.
In this week’s field guide, Taming Big Tech, reporter Alison Griswold examines efforts to check Big Tech’s power. On this, the European Union is at the forefront: Multiple complaints and investigations in Europe take an expansive approach to antitrust enforcement, suggesting that the concentration of corporate power is a threat to both consumers and democracy. Increasingly, the US is coming round to that view too.
In the state of play, the question, says Alison, is no longer whether something needs to be done, but what, how soon, and whether it will be enough. In other stories published today, she explores the historical origins of antitrust policy and speaks with the author of a new book on monopolies about whether they are inevitable in the digital era. Meanwhile, Quartz reporter Allison Schrager, discusses why breaking up Big Tech might not be the best solution.
Check back on the guide during the week for more material from Alison, Allison, and others taking on this important topic.
TO DISCUSS WITH FRIENDS OVER DINNER…
Here are a few conversation starters from our guide:
- Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Facebook are collectively worth a whopping $4.6 trillion—that’s more than the annual GDP of Germany.
- Amazon controls roughly half of US e-commerce and 5% of all US retail sales. It also holds nearly half of global cloud services through AWS, and is carving out a sizable chunk of search.
- Facebook counts 2.2 billion daily active users across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. That’s 29% of the entire global population.
- Since 2017, the European Commission has fined Google €8.3 billion ($9.1 billion) on competition grounds.
- In the US, 50 state attorneys general are investigating Google and 47 are investigating Facebook.
…OR WITH US, ON FRIDAY, ON THIS CALL
Join us for a discussion on Friday at 11:00am ET with Alison and global finance and economics editor Jason Karaian. They’ll discuss the growing drumbeat for antitrust action again Big Tech, and dissect where it might lead. We’ll be taking questions and comments live on the video conference call, accessible at the usual location.
If you’d like to dial in, use the following numbers:
UK: 0800-014 8469
USA: 866-226 4650
For all of the numbers, the access code is 722 994 440.
OTHER MEMBER CALLS THIS WEEK
Tue., Nov. 7, 11:00am ET: Quartz reporter Annalisa Merelli joins us live from the Nairobi Summit on reproductive rights in Kenya. The summit seeks to hold 179 countries to a promise they made 25 years ago to ensure their citizen sexual and reproductive health needs are met. What progress has been made?
You can view or listen to recordings of past calls with members here. And please send a note to members@qz.com if you have any feedback, or suggestions for other things we should cover. Another great way to give feedback on Quartz membership is to complete this short survey.
Best wishes for a productive week,
Xana Antunes,
Executive editor, Quartz