> Dissecting the company along those lines does nothing to curb their cumulative potential effect on controlling what ads a user sees

If I can reach my audience through Facebook or Instagram, that’s more competition than Facebook properties alone.

> They all hook into the same ad backend anyways

Hence the call to break them up.

>If I can reach my audience through Facebook or Instagram, that’s more competition than Facebook properties alone.

I mean, if anything, competition will lower the price per contact with potential voter? What problem it will solve?

How in the world is that enforceable, or legal?

Well, there was the Bell System. But arguably that didn't work as planned. And it probably couldn't happen today.

But regulation as a public utility might work.

Wouldn't the point of breaking those into separate companies be to _prevent_ them from hooking into the same backend?

What if they break FB, IG, Messenger and WhatsApp in to separate companies. They also spin out Facebook Ad Solutions Inc. or whatever it’s called to sell ads to all those separate companies along with anyone else who wants to display FB ads. This isn’t to say that this is what will happen, but it’s one potential.

If they are broken up like this Google could sell ads to be shown on those platforms too.