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ok...so the government approves acquisitions, and then later regrets those decisions.

Great way to send shockwaves through the M&A space with governing incompetence: rather than pass reasonable legislation and/or empower an existing department, just have a political theater of a committee process which selectively picks those who haven't lobbied enough _not_ to get in front of that committee.




Contrary to popular belief, the government is not a group of ten old men sitting in a conference room in DC. Different departments have different priorities.


Even if these were the same people who approved the original acquisitions, it's not like people can't rethink their position.


I don't know that we should be concerned about uncertainty in the M&A space. Maybe they're too comfortable.


Government is not a single entity with a single mind. It is more like a coalition.


Ok, the justice department approves acquisitions and then regrets them.


> House Antitrust Subcommittee

mmmmm, no looks like the legislative branch is reviewing what the executive branch does at all, thats whats supposed to happen.


You raise a good point, though I'll note it's not an either/or proposition.

The government botches numerous regulatory decisions. And Facebook is a monopoly that buys or copies (thus kills) their competitors.


> And Facebook is a monopoly that buys or copies (thus kills) their competitors

And yet competitors e.g. Snapchat, TikTok, HouseParty, Telegram, Line continue to appear and flourish.


And you forgot a big one - Pinterest, which is larger than Snapchat, thriving globally and worth $26 billion. Facebook has been entirely unable to slow their growth.

I think it's clear at this point that Facebook will continue to lose their social dominance, so long as they're prevented from acquiring any major competitors. Their old-line social network will likely remain as a foundation that everyone joins, because so many people are on it. New networks will keep popping up for the same reason TikTok did, young people hate being where old people are, where their parents and teachers are. That cycle will perpetually repeat (in 15 years TikTok 'dancing' videos will be viewed as laughably cringy by young people, like 1980s big hair and fashion trends were 15 years later). All that's necessary is to prevent Facebook from buying the new networks as they pop up.

Instagram might even manage to kill itself trying to be too many things as it clones competitors, turning itself into the F35 of social networks.


You're probably getting downvoted because you're repeating the same line that folks have been saying about Facebook for like 15 years now that keeps getting disproven. It's just the Chicken Little "sky is falling" metaphor.

>young people hate being where old people are, where their parents and teachers are.

Yes, because let's make large business decisions and technology investments on what 10-12 year olds like.




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