Is there really any way to get your voice heard, promote a product, share a political opinion, call out an injustice, showcase art, or communicate anything to the public without leaning on social media? Whether social media is “good” or “bad” doesn’t matter as much as this one fact: in today’s world, if you want to be seen or noticed, it feels like you have no choice but to rely on platforms controlled by giant corporations. These platforms use our content to fuel their growth—growing endlessly and raking in unimaginable profits. It’s a system that’s not just unfair—it’s downright unjust.
Social media corporations are monopolies, and they’ve built walls so high that competition hardly stands a chance. They either buy out their competitors or are so massive that losing a sliver of market share barely makes a dent. Take Facebook, for instance: it’s currently being sued in the U.S. by the government and several states for the very accusation of unlawfully acquiring competitors and shutting down any chance for real competition. It’s a game rigged in their favor.
Further information
- FTC Sues Facebook for Illegal Monopolization, the press release in which the Federal Trade Commission announces to sue Facebook
- WIRED’s Guide to Net Neutrality
- [Facebook’s ‘monopoly power’ hurts user privacy, finds Congress](https://mashable.com/article/house-antitrust-report-facebook-privacy-misinformation/ ‘“Facebook’s ‘monopoly power’ hurts user privacy, finds Congress” on Mashable’), an article on Mashable
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