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Re:Facebook faces ‘devastating’ EU-to-US data transfer ban by jpttsn on Saturday May 15, 2021 @01:03PM (#27166928)
I’d view “buying competitors” as a sign of “competing”.

Otherwise, in the Middle Ages, “European kingdoms don’t fight wars, they just conquer one another”

Re:Facebook faces ‘devastating’ EU-to-US data transfer ban by osmarks on Saturday May 15, 2021 @01:08PM (#27166957)
Possibly, but it's not the sort of competition which leads to more choice and better outcomes for consumers.
Re:Facebook faces ‘devastating’ EU-to-US data transfer ban by jpttsn on Saturday May 15, 2021 @03:13PM (#27168005)
Maybe, maybe not. Consumers would be analogous to consumers of kingdoms, so it all sort of falls apart.

Anyway, if the competition is not an ends unto itself it would seem a more direct argument can be made.

Re:Facebook faces ‘devastating’ EU-to-US data transfer ban by lanstin on Saturday May 15, 2021 @01:36PM (#27167219)
The math showing free market equilibrium being the most prosperous depends on a large number of entities on both the selling and the buying end.
Re:Facebook faces ‘devastating’ EU-to-US data transfer ban by minusf on Sunday May 16, 2021 @11:10AM (#27174226)
i can think of a couple of sad examples where buyout resulted in drop of quality or even dying off. it's often used to kill competition and not the other way.