← Back to context

Comment by somenameforme

13 hours ago

It's wiser to judge the parties by actions rather than rhetoric. From both parties there has been complete absence of meaningful action on the issue, even though both have regularly cycled through complete control of government with majorities in the house and senate while also holding the presidency.

Both parties have sued Alphabet and won a major case, although the outcome isn't ideal.

Meta and Apple have also been sued by both parties for monopolistic behavior.

  • The Bell system was broken up primarily for being the largest telephony operator while also being the largest seller of telephones. Microsoft, prior to PRISM and modern weirdness, initially lost an antitrust case over bundling Internet Explorer with Windows that could have led to their breakup.

    Modern stuff has gone so absurdly far beyond these, with anticompetitive behavior essentially being the core of their entire businesses, that you'd think we're living under a completely new legal system. We are not, take Alphabet or Meta back to AT&T's era, and they'd be broken up on summary judgement.