Attendees walk past a Facebook logo during Facebook Inc's F8 developers conference in San Jose, California, US, in this April 30 2019 file photo. Picture: REUTERS/STEPHEN LAM
Every scandal, regulatory hearing, and lawsuit that has not changed the way Facebook operates has seemed like a public-relations speed bump en route to the stock price validating Zuckerberg’s work. With shareholders seeming to cheer its every move, Facebook has no incentive to listen to its critics or change its strategy. Nor does any upstart founder looking to grow the next trillion-dollar business.
Facebook’s biggest regulatory threats may still be ahead. Several bills aimed at curbing the powers of big tech companies are moving through Congress, albeit at an uncertain pace. The more serious challenge to Facebook may again come from the FTC. The regulator suggests that breaking up Facebook by spinning off those apps would resolve the issue. But it would be hard for the FTC to prove that an alternate reality would have been better for consumers. Plus, at Facebook, the innovations that earned its dominance are not in product design. They are in the growth strategy. A breakup will not change Facebook’s priorities.Lina Khan, the new FTC chair, was appointed because she thinks about monopoly power differently than her predecessors.