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A comment on Facebook going down meant more than just a social network being unavailable. Parent comment

Re:Facebook going down meant more than just a social network... by smt88 on Tuesday October 05, 2021 @02:29AM (#28756112)
It's strange that you're ignoring the massive area between "unregulated" and "nationalized" (which is where most companies fall already).

No one is saying to break up Facebook and give it to the government. The idea is to break up Facebook because they've been buying competitors instead of trying to compete. It is an attempt to make the market more competitive.

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Re:Facebook going down meant more than just a social network... by kevingadd on Tuesday October 05, 2021 @03:34AM (#28756471)
In the tweet's case also, if Whatsapp were split from Facebook, Facebook's BGP failures wouldn't have taken it down, so the decentralization has robustness benefits even if you ignore the market benefits.
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Re:Facebook going down meant more than just a social network... by rybosworld on Tuesday October 05, 2021 @09:18AM (#28758994)
"The idea is to break up Facebook because they've been buying competitors instead of trying to compete."

That seems like your own interpretation of the tweet. The author says in a later tweet that they think Whatsapp should be treated as a utility. That seems to suggest they do want Whatsapp to be handed to the government.

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Re:Facebook going down meant more than just a social network... by chuckee on Tuesday October 05, 2021 @12:26PM (#28761610)
Plenty of utilities are privately owned - telephone companies and ISPs, for the most relevant example. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_utility
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Re:Facebook going down meant more than just a social network... by rybosworld on Tuesday October 05, 2021 @03:12PM (#28764189)
Privately owned does not imply privately run.
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Re:Facebook going down meant more than just a social network... by chuckee on Tuesday October 05, 2021 @03:39PM (#28764553)
Are telecoms not privately run? Or are you defining anything that's regulated as "not privately run"?
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Re:Facebook going down meant more than just a social network... by rybosworld on Tuesday October 05, 2021 @06:46PM (#28766696)
Really depends who you are grouping into telecoms.

Comcast/AT&T etc are not utilities, nor are they classified as such.

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