"... by the Federal Trade Commission and more than 40 states.
The judge eviscerated one of the federal government’s core arguments, that Facebook holds a monopoly over social networking, saying prosecutors had failed to provide enough facts to back up that claim. And he said the states had waited too long to bring their case, which centers on deals made in 2012 and 2014.
The judge said the F.T.C. could try again within 30 days with more detail, but he suggested that the agency faced steep challenges."
Writes Cecilia Kang at the NYT.
The top-rated comment over there, by a lot, is: "The swiftest way to eliminate Facebook’s power is to disable/delete your Facebook account.
And believe me, it’s not very hard to do."
Ironically, that's a free-market answer.
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3 comments:
Temujin writes:
"The swiftest way to eliminate Facebook’s power is to disable/delete your Facebook account. And believe me, it’s not very hard to do."
Ironically, that's a free-market answer."
This has always been the answer- for Facebook and Twitter. Just stop using them. Drop it. Delete your accounts. There was life before them. You'll find there's life- much more of it- after them. I joined both years ago and quit/deleted almost immediately afterward. I saw what a time suck they would be. They turned out to be much more and much worse than that. Don't like it? Quit using it.
MikeR writes:
"AINAL, and the NYT didn't say anything: don't they just appeal? How can one federal judge just shut down a massive effort like that? Bye!
"not a monopoly". Does anti-trust law really require a true monopoly? Isn't it sufficient if large powerful companies use their control of an industry to force control of other industries? Only our fruits travel on our trains. Don't worry, you can rent a truck..."
Tom Tildrum writes:
You don't have to go so far as to delete your account. Your value to Facebook comes from targeting you with particular ads based on your browsing history of interactions with others. You can change your ad preferences so that Facebook cannot do that -- effectively demonetizing yourself. You'll still see generic ads, but Facebook loses the ability to data-mine you.
Go into Privacy Shortcuts, then Ad Preferences. Turn everything off.
I must say I like targeted ads! Ads targeted to me are much more aesthetically pleasing than general ads. It's all cashmere sweaters and cloche hats and expensive lipstick.
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