The U.S. government made a number of important announcements last week that could end up having a huge impact on the way social media platforms work, including potential restrictions and limitations on how digital platforms can buy other platforms, operate theirs Advertising business and the usage of users data and more.
On Friday, four separate bills were in the House of Representatives all targeting various elements of big tech monopolies.
As reported by Reuters, these four bills could potentially see:
- A law against platforms that prefer their own products on their platforms. For example, Google could no longer advertise its own products in search, Apple would no longer prefer Apple Music over Spotify, etc.
- A restriction on business combinations in the technology sector, unless the acquirer can demonstrate that the acquired company is not competing with a product or service that the platform already offers. According to this provision, Facebook should not have acquired WhatsApp or Instagram.
- A ban on digital platforms that have subsidiaries operating on their platform when those subsidiaries are competing with other companies. This aims to reduce preferential behavior and could potentially force certain items to be sold off.
- Improved portability of user data, with platforms legally required to allow users to transfer their data to another location if they wish, including to a competing company.
A separate bill would also die The Justice Department’s antitrust division has significantly increased funding to enforce antitrust proceedings that are currently pending against both Facebook and Google.
Really, antitrust proceedings are always pending against the tech giants, and the increase in funding would help address these open issues and fund further investigation.
If these bills are passed, or even pass some of them, it will bring a number of new restrictions to the way tech giants operate, while further research is ongoing in Europe and other regions into possible restrictions on data sharing. due to concerns about possible abuse by foreign governments.
It is also happening as the U.S. government continues to investigate the impact of exchanging data with China, which includes Chinese-owned digital platforms, and this could eventually affect TikTok as well as WeChat. While TikTok was able to avoid a US ban last year after the Trump administration tried to bring it into US possession, it could still face a possible shutdown in America, depending on simmering tensions between the US and the US China.
Overall, these elements could lead to big changes in the digital marketing landscape and it will be important for anyone in the industry to be aware of this and prepare for the changes that will result.
Although these steps really don’t come as a big surprise.
Given the rise of social media and the key role it plays in our daily interactive process, it seems inevitable that at some point new rules will be introduced to rule the power of Facebook and Co., especially as the platforms are increasingly encouraged to participate Meddling in things like political censorship and their networks are used to influence massive global change.
That last note may seem excessive, but with overseas government-funded groups trying to influence voter reactions outside of their own borders through social apps, and politicians using Facebook and Twitter in particular as a direct line to their constituencies which allows them, among other things, to question the coverage in mainstream media, it is very clear that social media is indeed causing seismic changes in the political landscape.
If the rise of former US President Donald Trump has shown us anything, it is that social media is now the main platform for engaging audiences – and with – on a large scale and in real time 71% of people now get at least some of their news inbox from social media platforms, and it’s only getting more important as the trend continues.
That has already scared various government officials and lawmakers, while Trump’s recent ban on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube has raised further concerns about political censorship and the fact that decisions about who can and cannot have a public platform are now made by tech CEOs will be hit in Silicon Valley. That gives private companies direct control over an element of policy that, whether you agree to the Trump ban or not, is a major issue.
Because of this, Facebook is calling for external regulation and has even formed its own external regulatory group made up of a diverse group of experts to address such concerns. Facebook’s hope is that by showing how its independent oversight body can help it make such decisions, Facebook could open up a new avenue for broader regulation and take such decisions out of its hands.
Basically, Facebook and other platforms would also prefer that the rules not be set by their internal teams – but they have little choice within the current process. As such, these new bills could be a step forward, but at the same time they would also limit Facebook’s growth opportunities and expand even further through acquisitions.
Which really just means we’re seeing more Facebook clone features like Stories and Reels and fewer attempts to buy rival platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram.
Would that be a better scenario? I mean probably. The clones of Facebook traditionally haven’t done as well as the originals, which leaves more room for competition in the industry.
But either way, the impact here is significant and could spark big changes across the industry. There is still a long way to go, but it’s worth keeping an eye on every element within this shift.
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