Re:Trust-Busting as the Unsexy Answer to Google and Facebook
by sanderjd on Saturday October 16, 2021 @11:17AM
(#28888448)
This thought experiment has nothing to do with what a monopoly is.
See, I think people have been using this term without any actual definition of it for so long that people are actively confused by what is and isn't a monopoly. People have said focusing on this word is "just semantics" but it isn't because people really aren't sure what it means.
Let me propose a different way to think about it.
Can I do task <X> and prevent company <Y> from capturing any value from it?
Can I post my own video online and prevent YouTube from capturing any value? The answer is "No." Some jerk will post it to YouTube and a whole bunch of views will go over there and Google will capture ad revenue on it.
That's definitely a monopoly.