FTC warns of break-up of big tech

The technology industry has often been a political punching bag over the last 18-24 months, and now the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is adding to the misery.

In an interview with Bloomberg, FTC Chairman Joe Simons has suggested his agency would be prepared to break-up big tech, undoing previous acquisitions, should it prove to be the best means to prevent anti-competitive activities. This would be a monumental task, though it seems the tides of favour have turned against Silicon Valley.

This is not the first time the internet giants have faced criticism, and it won’t be the last, but what is worth noting is the industry has not endeared itself to friendly comments from political offices around the world. Recent events and scandals, as well as the exploitation of grey areas in the law, have hindered the relationship between Silicon Valley and ambitious politicians.

In this instance, the FTC is currently undertaking an investigation to understand the impact the internet giants are having on competition and the creation of new businesses. Let’s not forget, supporting the little man and small businesses is a key component of the political armoury, and with a Presidential Election around the corner, PR plugs will be popping up all over the place.

Looking at one of those plugs, Democrat candidate-hopeful Elizabeth Warren has already made this promise. Back in March, Warren launched her own Presidential ambitions with the promise to hold the internet giants accountable to the rules. Not only does this mean adding bills to the legislative chalkboard, but potentially breaking up those companies which are deemed ‘monopolistic’.

This has of course been an issue for years in Europe. The European Commission has stopped short of pushing for a break-up, though Google constantly seems to be in the antitrust spotlight for one reason or another. Whether it is default applications through Android or preferential treatment for shopping algorithms, it is under investigation. The latest investigation has seen job recruiters moaning over anti-competitive activities for job sites.

What is also worth noting is that the US has a habit of diluting the concentration of power in certain segments throughout its history. The US Government seems to be tolerant of monopolies while the industry is being normalised and infrastructure is being deployed, before opening-up the segment.

During the early 1910s, Standard Oil was being attacked as a monopoly, though this was only after it has finished establishing the rail network to efficiently transport products throughout the US. In the 1980s, the Bell System was broken-up into the regional ‘Baby Bells’ to increase competition throughout the US telco market.

The internet could be said to have reached this point also. A concentration of power might have been accepted as a necessary evil to ensure economy of scale, to accelerate the development and normalisation of the internet economy, though it might have reached the tipping point.

That said, despite the intentions of US politicians, this might be a task which is much more difficult to complete. It has been suggested Facebook has been restructuring its business and processes to make it more difficult to break-up. It also allegedly backed out of the acquisition of video-focused social network Houseparty for fears it would raise an antitrust red-flag and prompt deeper investigations.

You have to wonder whether the other internet giants are making the same efforts. For example, IBM’s Watson, its AI flagship, has been integrated throughout its entire portfolio, DeepMind has been equally entwined throughout Google, while the Amazon video business is heavily linked to the eCommerce platform. These companies could argue the removal of certain aspect would be overly damaging to the prospects of the business and also a bureaucratic nightmare to untangle.

The more deeply embedded some of these acquisitions are throughout all elements of the business, the more difficult it becomes to separate them. It creates a position where the internet giants can fight back against any new regulation, as these politicians would not want to harm the overarching global leadership position. Evening competition is one thing but sacrificing a global leadership position in the technology industry defending the consumer would be unthinkable.

This is where you have to take these claims from the FTC and ambitious politicians with a pinch-of-salt. These might be very intelligent people, but they will have other jobs aside from breaking-up big tech. The internet giants will have incredibly intelligent people who will have the sole-task of making it impossible to achieve these aims.