

When is 'Big' Just Too Big?
Setup
A large, unsettling question looming among Washington regulators, lawmakers, and now state Attorney’s General across the US is whether the time has come to break up the big five: Facebook, Amazon, Google, Netflix, Apple. Have these powerful tech companies, once the darlings of the start-up community not twenty years past, become so dominant that they are stifling competition and entrepreneurship? Does their respective dominance in search, retail, apps, operating systems, cloud technology and more pose anti-competitive threats? And, if so, is the current state of antitrust law able to tackle them? While still a student at Yale Law School, Lina Khan gained wide celebrity for her analyses of anti-competitive behavior. Studying the digital marketplace, she is making waves by arguing that in this time of big data, artificial intelligence, and winner-take-all markets, tech companies have immense structural power that the current approach to antitrust law fails to capture.
- 2019 Festival
- Economy
- Technology
Why consumers actually like big tech monopolies
Big tech companies resemble the textbook Industrial Age monopolies in a lot of ways, says Lina Khan, majority counsel for the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. But they’re different in one crucial way: consumers tend to really like what they offer. Companies like Amazon have lowered prices and brought a world of products just a click away.
Government-led antitrust in the US has recently been based on the principle of consumer protection. When consumers are conspicuously disadvantaged by monopolies, then it’s time to act. Khan says this way of thinking about antitrust complicates action against tech companies because even though their structures and behaviors are monopolistic, most consumers think that’s to their own advantage.
The anatomy of a tech monopoly
Understanding how companies like Amazon function helps explain why they need to be regulated, says Lina Khan. Companies like Amazon are “dominant intermediaries,” or companies that are platforms for other businesses. Amazon’s chief product is its platform.
By The Numbers
Khan reminds us that Facebook rose in popularity because it was competing with other social media sites that didn’t offer the same level of privacy protections. It was only after Facebook became a behemoth that it started to be plagued by privacy issues.
Privacy is a victim of consolidation
Nicholas Thompson, editor-in-chief of Wired, plays devil’s advocate and suggests that breaking up companies like Facebook will cause the smaller companies to compete for profits instead of focusing on things like privacy. Lina Khan says the effect would be the exact opposite:
Khan reminds us that Facebook rose in popularity because it was competing with other social media sites that didn’t offer the same level of privacy protections. It was only after Facebook became a behemoth that it started to be plagued by privacy issues.
Can we trust the government with antitrust?
All roads to meaningful antitrust regulation eventually lead to the federal government. But can the government be trusted to pursue antitrust cases in a fair, timely, and effective way? Both Lina Khan and Nick Thompson aren’t so sure. Khan says that even though the regulatory process usually moves at glacial speeds, there are ways to streamline it and update it for the 21st century. The motivation behind those regulations, though, is a different matter.
Theoretically, a system of checks and balances makes sure that antitrust doesn’t become politicized. Congress has oversight over the regulatory process, and various federal agencies have input as well. But given the fractured nature of Washington, Khan isn’t totally reassured.
Explore More
Economy


Most Americans today would agree that the dream of supporting a family and living a good life on one full time salary is not available to vast numbers of people. Wages have no...


Artificial intelligence is making world-changing advances every day. But these powerful tools can be used for malicious and nefarious purposes just as easily as they can be us...


A technological future where our brain waves could be monitored and our thoughts decoded and analyzed — sometimes against our will — is not as far away as we think. But our ex...

The quest for profits, commitments to social impact, and consumer preference are driving unprecedented change in healthcare as investors pour in money, start-ups and big tech...


Even when the economy is booming and unemployment is low, millions of Americans still face economic hardship. And in the last few years the United States has dealt with supply...

Whether expressed through systems that are easy to navigate, devices that are friendly to their users, and spaces that are pleasing to the eye, thoughtful design can break dow...

Setting audacious goals helps to redefine what is achievable in health, medicine, and science. As we deepen understanding of the human genome, unravel the mysteries of the bra...

It's been a big year for Patagonia, as it celebrated a 50th anniversary and legally restructured to commit all profits to environmental causes. What can be learned from the co...


Artificial intelligence is clearly going to change our lives in multiple ways. But it’s not yet obvious exactly how, and what the impacts will be. We can predict that certain...


When Sal Khan created Khan Academy, he was trying to scale up the successful experiences he’d had tutoring his cousins one-on-one in math. He saw how effective it could be for...

Everywhere you look, there’s a headline about the power of artificial intelligence and how it will impact our lives in ways we have not yet imagined. From advancing medicine t...

How do we sustain growth in a volatile and rapidly changing economy? What’s the best way to foster productivity and fulfillment at work? How will A.I. change the job market? C...


The automotive industry is going through a time of profound transformation, facing internal and external pressure to electrify America’s fleet of personal vehicles. General Mo...

Can technology bolster democracy? MIT’s Deb Roy thinks so.

At the 2023 Aspen Ideas Festival, we dug into some of the most important and fascinating issues of our time, from rebuilding trust in our institutions and the promise and peri...


Like all technology, artificial intelligence can be used for good, and it can be used for evil. What little federal regulation the United States has governing technology and t...

If one dives deeply into the statistics, the American Dream is actually quite alive and well. In his provocative book, The Myth of American Inequality, former U.S. senator Phi...

In their new book, co-authors and Stanford professors Rob Reich and Mehran Sahami argue that big tech’s obsession with optimization and efficiency has sacrificed fundamental h...

Like Photoshop, photography, or even pigment, A.I. represents new technology for creative expression that aims to close the gap between imagination and physicality. Alexander...

How can we unlock the power of entrepreneurship to widen access to health care, close gender disparity, and increase prosperity in the global South? Hear from expert voices an...