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To-morrow, when it will be 15 years old, Facebook will have a feat to celebrate: the social network knows people like few companies in the world. Not surprisingly: 70% of people with an Internet connection on the planet use at least one of their services – among them WhatsApp and Instagram – at least once a month. Mark Zuckerberg's company is not the only power of Silicon Valley to dominate a technology segment: it now seems difficult to live without using a product from Google, Amazon or Apple.
The market value of these companies reflects their power on a global scale: Facebook represents $ 476 billion, while Amazon represents $ 795 billion. This domain emits a yellow signal for regulators around the world. A number of aspects are worrisome – from the political influence of these companies to the data they have on how people buy and are tied to the threats to competition and innovation.
Today, 2.3 billion people use Facebook, the largest social network in the world. 400 million others use another service of the company. The company now wants to integrate the framework of its main messaging applications, trying to focus global communication on their areas.
Google logo at the London office
Photo: Hannah McKay / Reuters
It is estimated today that, alongside Google, the Zuckerberg company absorbs more than 80% of global digital advertising revenues, to the exclusion of China – the data come from Consulting GroupM. Possessing the world's largest search engine and the most used web browser, Google Chrome, Google is also in many pockets: its Android operating system runs on 86% of smartphones, says consulting firm IDC .
Amazon, the largest company in the world, controls 48% of e-commerce in the United States, according to eMarketer consulting. Its cloud storage service, Amazon Web Services, accounts for 40 percent of the global market – and today houses the data from Netflix and GE, which was once the largest company in the world.
Already, Apple has tremendous power in brands such as the iPhone and its app store. Last week, Facebook felt this impact by canceling its developer ID by the manufacturer for two days. Last August, the giant was the first company to reach the historic mark of $ 1 trillion in market value.
"The power of these companies is a strong indication that there may be abuses in the market," says Diego Coutinho, a USP law professor. However, says the specialist, as they unfold in the digital environment, such conduct has challenged the authorities. "There are often anti-competitive practices, but they look different, which can confuse the authorities," he says.
Companies that denied deny denying having violated antitrust laws. In a statement, Amazon claims to see an "intense and well-established competition in each of the areas" in which it operates. Facebook, favorable to a possible regulation, claims to suffer from strong competition. Apple and Google declined to comment.
Vanguard
The European Union is at the origin of the wave of reactions to the giants of the sector. The economic bloc has already imposed $ 1 billion in fines on Google forcing Android-based manufacturers to integrate factory-installed smartphones into their apps, such as the Gmail email service. In 2016, Apple also paid billions of fine for using Ireland's head office in order to pay less taxes.
"The EU has imposed increasingly harsh fines to compel companies to limit their actions," Coutinho said. For the teacher, it is time to check if companies will obey the rules or pay the price.
However, doubts remain as to the amount of fines that can affect companies billing billions of dollars a year. "The fine in itself is not the most serious problem, but the penalties that can result," he badessed the state Fernando Meirelles, professor at the FGV, when the EU sanctioned Google in the Android case.
In the antitrust world, there can be no more serious sanction than dismemberment – when a business becomes so important that it must be divided, as was the case with Standard Oil in 1911. However, for experts, indicate the need for the measure in the medium term.
Rafael Pistono, a partner of Redenschi Advogados, said that such a requirement would be detrimental not only to the giants. "Antitrust solutions are not easy to find, and the dissolution of these companies could affect an entire economic system, which today depends on its services," he said. Does not seem to be just the users who can not live without Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook. "They have already become essential – and the antitrust agencies have understood this," says Pistono.
The size of each
Social Network with 1 Billion Users
Email application with 1.5 out of two customers
A social network concentrates 2.3 billion people
Apple
iPhone
The first smartphone & # 39; popular & # 39; in the world
iCloud
Cloud Storage Service
iTunes
Entertainment platform
Google.com
The greatest researcher in the world
Android
System that concentrates 86% of cell phones
YouTube
Video streaming platform
Amazon
Amazon.com
The World's Largest Online Retailer
Amazon Web Services
40% of the cloud storage area
Whole foods
American supermarket chain
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