Last week Bob Ferguson the State’s attorney general for Washington launched an anti-trust probe into Google and Facebook. Amongst the many allegations, he claimed that the Duopoly had not only formed an unfair monopoly to squeeze publishers and “squash competition”, but also that Google and Facebook had gone one step further by, “actively seeking to harm consumers.”
How and why? I’ll explain why below but to put it succinctly – it is in their best interest to do so. Once complete they will have succeeded in creating a platform-based internet, keeping you in their walled garden and removing your freedom of choice. You will see whatever they want you to see. Adios free will.
This is tearing at the fabric of our society. They create filter bubbles, fuel hate, and narrow our worldview. They are invading our privacy. Have you ever talked about something and then seen an ad for it? Yes, they’re listening in on every device.
They are doing all of this while also crushing free enterprise on the internet. Which brings us to this post today.
You see, when you harm publishers, you also harm the end user, and that’s you. You are collateral damage in the biggest landgrab in the history of modern society.
At the same time the government launched their probe, the top publishers in the country had gathered for an emergency summit in New York. Advertising dollars from 2015-2018 were slowly declining. 2019 trends were showing an alarming trend with programmatic revenues in freefall industry-wide. Ad revenue across publishing was down over 50%??? There’s gotta be an explanation for this?
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