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You've probably heard that Google, Amazon, and Facebook are monopolies that need to be broken up. For those who know a little bit of history, antitrust law is meant to prevent companies from using their economic leverage to screw over customers, mainly in the form of price gouging. Now Facebook and Google don't charge people to use their services. But there's the thing, both companies sell your data to advertisers. This has led to a real concern over privacy.
As an article puts it:
It is common knowledge that a fax machine is worthless until others have one too. That is what is happening in social networking except that, unlike a fax machine, it can't be instantly swapped for another. It is easy to change search engines, even if it is Google. But if you change social networks you not only have to move all your videos, audios, messages, photos elsewhere but you also lose your network of friends unless they migrate with you.
So it seems like Facebook is a monopoly and needs to be broken up but hold on, the quote continues:
MySpace won't make that easy. Its massive user base will help maintain its dominance, according to co-founder Chris DeWolfe. "In social networking, there is a huge advantage to have scale. You can find almost anyone on MySpace and the more time that has been invested in the site, the more locked in people are".
The article is titled Will MySpace ever lose its monopoly: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2007/feb/08/business.comment
It was published in 2007. Less than two years later, Facebook became the largest social media platform.
Now maybe Facebook is different. After all, it has far more users than MySpace ever did. And its userbase is growing
www.statista.com
But that's a worldwide statistic. When we just focus on the US, growth is far less impressive. In fact, almost all of it happened from 2008 to 2011. And it stopped growing since 2017.
Furthermore, young people are ditching it for other platforms like Snapchat or Tik Tok.
Now onto Google. Google has held a large percentage of the search engine market for awhile. With Google holding 92% of the search engine market, maybe it's a monopoly.
www.statista.com
Hold on there a sec. Back in 1998, there was an article titled How Yahoo Won the Search Wars. Like MySpace, it lost its title to the current holder only a few years later.
Now Google has been dominant for a longer period of time than Facebook but there is a parallel that exists a generation ago. You see, back in the late 90s, there was allegation that Microsoft was a monopoly. They were even taken to court in United States v. Microsoft. The same thing that could be said about Google's search engine was said about Microsoft's web browser: internet explorer which held 90% market share at its peak. However, it lost ground to Firefox and was eventually overtaken by Google Chrome.
If we go back another generation, we see IBM at its peak in the 70s. They had been around since 1912 but they saw an opportunity in selling mainframe computers. IBM was accused of being a monopoly and there was even an antitrust case. IBM eventually lost dominance with the rise of the PC.
They say that history repeats itself. Obviously, we can't be sure that Google won't remain dominant for awhile but I think we're starting to notice a pattern here.
Now Amazon is a bit more tricky because they're involved in the distribution of goods as opposed to non scarce markets like search engines, web browsers, or social media. When we look at recent data, as of 2021, Amazon's market share of ecommerce is 50% which is up from 34%
www.statista.com
But Amazon doesn't just compete with online retailers, it also competes with brick and mortar stores as well. Even if Amazon held 100% of the online retail market, it's total market share of retail would be less than 20%. Although online retail as a percent of total retail is on the rise, it's only 13.6%. Even at it's peek in 2020, it was only 15.7%.
www.statista.com
As an article puts it:
It is common knowledge that a fax machine is worthless until others have one too. That is what is happening in social networking except that, unlike a fax machine, it can't be instantly swapped for another. It is easy to change search engines, even if it is Google. But if you change social networks you not only have to move all your videos, audios, messages, photos elsewhere but you also lose your network of friends unless they migrate with you.
So it seems like Facebook is a monopoly and needs to be broken up but hold on, the quote continues:
MySpace won't make that easy. Its massive user base will help maintain its dominance, according to co-founder Chris DeWolfe. "In social networking, there is a huge advantage to have scale. You can find almost anyone on MySpace and the more time that has been invested in the site, the more locked in people are".
The article is titled Will MySpace ever lose its monopoly: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2007/feb/08/business.comment
It was published in 2007. Less than two years later, Facebook became the largest social media platform.
Now maybe Facebook is different. After all, it has far more users than MySpace ever did. And its userbase is growing
Facebook audience worldwide 2020| Statista
This statistic shows the number of Facebook users worldwide from 2015 to 2020.
www.statista.com
But that's a worldwide statistic. When we just focus on the US, growth is far less impressive. In fact, almost all of it happened from 2008 to 2011. And it stopped growing since 2017.
Furthermore, young people are ditching it for other platforms like Snapchat or Tik Tok.
Now onto Google. Google has held a large percentage of the search engine market for awhile. With Google holding 92% of the search engine market, maybe it's a monopoly.
Global search engine desktop market share 2025| Statista
While various platforms have divvied up the overall search market, Google has the biggest market share of them all.
www.statista.com
Hold on there a sec. Back in 1998, there was an article titled How Yahoo Won the Search Wars. Like MySpace, it lost its title to the current holder only a few years later.
Now Google has been dominant for a longer period of time than Facebook but there is a parallel that exists a generation ago. You see, back in the late 90s, there was allegation that Microsoft was a monopoly. They were even taken to court in United States v. Microsoft. The same thing that could be said about Google's search engine was said about Microsoft's web browser: internet explorer which held 90% market share at its peak. However, it lost ground to Firefox and was eventually overtaken by Google Chrome.
If we go back another generation, we see IBM at its peak in the 70s. They had been around since 1912 but they saw an opportunity in selling mainframe computers. IBM was accused of being a monopoly and there was even an antitrust case. IBM eventually lost dominance with the rise of the PC.
They say that history repeats itself. Obviously, we can't be sure that Google won't remain dominant for awhile but I think we're starting to notice a pattern here.
Now Amazon is a bit more tricky because they're involved in the distribution of goods as opposed to non scarce markets like search engines, web browsers, or social media. When we look at recent data, as of 2021, Amazon's market share of ecommerce is 50% which is up from 34%
U.S. Amazon e-commerce retail market share 2021| Statista
In 2017, Amazon's market share of the U.S.
www.statista.com
U.S. retail e-commerce sales share 2025| Statista
In the first quarter 2024, the share of e-commerce in total U.S. retail sales was 15.9 percent, up from the previous quarter.
www.statista.com
