And yet, whenever there is a regulatory initiative to reign in those companies some people, especially on places HN, will claim that it is a futile attempt despite past evidence to the contrary.

My prediction if this takes off: Just as in Phones right now we will see a period of mono/duopolism after which lawmakers around the world will start to decide that the public space expanded into a new field and that companies such as Meta are unfit stewards. Then laws will be written to align platforms more with whatever the local society expects. (And some people will, again, complain about that "overreach")