Irresponsible Exercise of Power by Facebook and Amazon

Final Exam Essay
Student Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Professor Details:
Course Details:
Date of Submission:
Irresponsible exercise of power by Facebook and Amazon
Facebook and Amazon are not exercising their power responsibly. A House Judiciary Committee investigation found that Facebook and Amazon had irresponsibly used their market power (Washington Post, 2020). The report recommended that the US Congress should change IT regulations. That is a move that can potentially break up the two giant firms. Consequently, Democratic lawmakers want Congress to rein in Big Tech, possibly compelling Facebook and Amazon to break up their companies while also making it more difficult for them to acquire others and enforcing new competition regulations.
Alternatively, forcing such breakups through a legislative change would be a bold move by Congress against a dominant sector. For decades, the tech firms like Facebook and Amazon have gotten away with light regulation and the star status in the USA ("Big tech's domination of business reaches new heights," 2020). Still, they are now facing increased scrutiny and contempt over issues like hate speech, customer privacy, and competition. For instance, Facebook has monopoly power in the social media sector. According to the report, Amazon and Facebook have "durable and significant market power" in the US online retail industry and other mobile app stores and operating systems. According to some critics of the corporations, the businesses that should get considered for divestiture are Facebook's WhatsApp and Instagram services and Amazon's Android mobile operating system (Washington Post, 2020).
Additionally, the two companies allegedly misused their market power by imposing strict contract terms, charging outrageous fees, and extracting valuable data from businesses and individuals who rely on them. Therefore, I urge that the two influential tech firms should get separated from their parent 'corporations' other activities. Consequently, the two platforms should get forced to provide all users with similar terms for comparable services and products. The laws should get changed to prevent future misuse from setting a higher bar for future acquisitions and mergers in the tech industry.
Facebook and Amazon play a positive role in society.
Facebook and Amazon have continued to play a significant role in society. For instance, working professionals typically want to acquire new computers or smartphones from a cutting-edge, high-end, advanced platform Amazon. Consequently, when your siblings need new headphones, they purchase them on Amazon with a single click. One browse through their Facebook feeds because many of us choose to spend a significant amount of time on social media. These two firms, which are the cornerstones of Big Tech, significantly impact our daily lives and have radically redefined how we work. Through innovative technology, Facebook and Amazon have had a huge and positive impact on society.
According to Scott Galloway, to sell their products and services, Facebook and Amazon have tapped into our basic inclinations – cravings for consumption (Amazon) and love (Facebook). Facebook and Amazon are immensely dominating in their respective industries, almost monopolistic but not entirely. For instance, Facebook is currently controlling 60% of mobile ad revenues. In comparison, Amazon holds 47% of all e-commerce in the United States (Grilled by lawmakers, big tech turns up the gaslight (Published 2020). Such monopolistic fractions of control are not a concern for US regulation, at least not until these corporations do not misuse their market dominance. These once-scrappy businesses rose from humble beginnings to become giants' playgrounds by cloning products, steadily acquiring competitors, and attaining rapid growth thanks to their quick adaption. We can gain insight into the tech industry's direction thanks to Facebook and Amazon's acquisitions of virtual realities, artificial intelligence, smart devices, and voice search. Indeed, machine learning firms have allowed us to acquire insight concerning the direction of the tech sector. 
Facebook allows us to network with people worldwide while Amazon Web Services powers most of the internet, including Instagram and Netflix. Despite their apparent differences, Facebook and Amazon compete in smart speakers and cloud computing, with Amazon having qualms about retail space. Their initial identities no longer bind these businesses, and their ever-increasing desire to generate new services or products has resulted in some hazy competition amongst them. Typically, the competition provides necessary regulation, a push for innovation, and a challenge to speed progress. Even this tiny nudge between the two firms has not stopped them from moving forward with no actual opponents - the behemoths buy out what they desire or fear. 
Nevertheless, there is a shocking absence of oversight, combined with privacy concerns, and has sparked a massive awakening about the future of big digital businesses. To protect data and prevent monopolization, the EU has enacted harsher antitrust legislation and has substantially penalized companies like Facebook. Consumers are concerned about the lack of effective rules, which leads to a lack of transparency and the possibility of data misuse or breaches. Senator Elizabeth Warren has proposed that Big Tech get broken up to maintain a healthy entrepreneurship playing field. This dramatic measure would effectively undo acquisitions and mergers like Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods or Facebook's partnerships with Whatsapp (Washington Post, 2021). Much of the o...