Trevor SmithDec 18, 2022
b_fung

As I wrote Friday, Twitter's banning of links to competing social platforms *could* be perceived as anticompetitive, according to antitrust experts including Bill Baer, the former DOJ and FTC antitrust chief in two US administrations. But it isn't exactly cut and dry, they tell me.

The tricky thing is first proving that Twitter has market power. https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/16/tech/mastodon-twitter-links/index.html

Dec 18, 2022 at 7:34pmWeb
Show threadb_fungDec 18, 2022
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey responds to Twitter's link-banning announcement: "Why?" and "doesn't make sense."
Show threadb_fungDec 18, 2022
I’d have to think that even if the FTC brought a case against the link-banning, Twitter would immediately invoke Section 230, no?
Show threadFree Speech AbolitionistDec 18, 2022
@b_fung no. Section 230 immunizes civil liability (ie, torts) and does not apply to federal agency enforcement of statutory law
Show threadJake Jarvis Dec 18, 2022
@b_fung reality hits you hard sometimes 🚆​
Show threadAris TeonDec 18, 2022
@b_fung Jack Dorsey is clueless. He said Musk was the single best person to take over Twitter. Under which rock must one live to be so detached from reality?
Show threadNeal ParikhDec 18, 2022
@b_fung Jack himself was incompetent and never made sense. Good riddance to bad rubbish
Show threadAbandoned AmericaDec 18, 2022
@b_fung this is just absolutely bonkers
Show threadJan RinglingDec 18, 2022
@b_fung Should we report that Twitter Support tweet? that tweet promotes, among others, the social media platforms Facebook, Mastodon & Instagram!
Show threadDisco SexualDec 18, 2022
@JanRingling @b_fung it sure is making them look good by comparison, isn't it?
Show threadPinky FloydDec 18, 2022
@b_fung seems as though paul graham FAFO today
Show threadSteyrshrekDec 18, 2022

@b_fung only lawyers can make something that is crystal clear look murky.

How about we don’t do business with anyone who advertises on his site. Remember how much this he is paying in interest every month. He will go thru billions really quick servicing that debt.

Show threadLukas SimonisDec 18, 2022
@b_fung
well I guess there won't be any consequences then . . .
Show threadHypxDec 18, 2022
@b_fung Twitter will be dead before the lawsuit can conclude. It is well on the path to being the next MySpace or Digg. And the first to die because the owner flatly rejects the principle of free speech.
Show threadDaleDec 18, 2022
@b_fung Too big to fail? Sounds more like too small to make a difference.
Show threadnortherngirl65Dec 18, 2022
@b_fung I guess I need to leave Twitter then
Show threadthe thing we made may kill us.Dec 18, 2022
@b_fung this along with the apparent foregoing of the ftc consent decree should make for excellent television.
Show threadmiketcopeDec 18, 2022
@b_fung Musk is playing dimensionless chess by reducing Twitter’s market power into legal insignificance
Show threadCornelius TraasDec 18, 2022
@b_fung Also, in a similar vein:
https://mastodon.ie/@DToher/109536483361345360
Dee Toher (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image · Content warning: Twitter banning links to other social media platforms including Facebook, Post and Mastodon

mastodon.ie
Show threadIs Mise Le MeasDec 18, 2022
@b_fung
It's in violation of multiple publishing laws in the EU and other jurisdictions.
Show threadMike McGeeDec 18, 2022
@b_fung that last bit cuts deep.
Show threadBen MillerDec 18, 2022

@b_fung with these policy changes by #Musk, #Twitter violates the European Digital Markets Act #DMA, going into effect May 2023.
Violations are to be fined with up to 10% of the company’s total worldwide annual turnover, or up to 20% in the event of repeated infringements.

https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/digital-markets-act-ensuring-fair-and-open-digital-markets_en

The Digital Markets Act: ensuring fair and open digital markets

Discover how the Digital Markets Act ensures large online platforms in the EU behave fairly, and allows new players to enter the market, thus developing a fast evolving digital sector.

European Commission
Show threadStephen DrennanDec 18, 2022
@b_fung This is interesting :
Show threadStuartBDec 18, 2022
@AVO8OHM
@b_fung
I'm sure quite a few EU politicians are going to have a few things to say as well!
Show threadMichael HortonDec 18, 2022
@b_fung hahaha, it’s kind of hard to prove they do have market power…especially as people drop twitter! 😂
Show threadmarktaylorDec 18, 2022

@b_fung Twitter makes no money and is currently driving its dwindling customers to other businesses. Anti trust is the last thing it’s going to be prosecuted for.

Diverting funds from a publicly traded company to a private company, stock manipulation, employment and privacy law violations are likely on the DOJs radar though. @donieosullivan @MaddowBlog

Show threadAprilShowers99452871Dec 18, 2022
@b_fung
Good thing world news stopped for Twitter. Absolutely nothing to discuss except it!
Show threadRTDec 18, 2022
@b_fung https://mastodon.social/@DJPRMF/109536645933479044
Show threadVlad ☁️Dec 18, 2022
@b_fung Elon’s actions will cost him dearly
Show threadMarshall SteinbaumDec 18, 2022
@b_fung @emilybell hence why he pretended to ban a larger number of social sites, ie Facebook & Instagram. To be able to say the market is larger?
Show threadRich Stein (he/him)Dec 19, 2022
@econ_marshall @b_fung @emilybell This is and interesting take from Europe (hope I do this right; in any event, see this toot and also see the tweet thread): https://mastodon.social/@ericfreyss/109536062874877352
Show threadRich Stein (he/him)Dec 19, 2022
@econ_marshall @b_fung @emilybell sorry... "an interesting take..."
Show threadMarc JacobsDec 18, 2022
@b_fung They are certainly working at destroying any market power they have.
Show threadTruthByIndigoDec 18, 2022
@b_fung the best revenge is to leave twitter en masse, after all, we are the “product.”
Show threadMerrimonDec 18, 2022
@b_fung
Show threadpurplepuddlenutDec 18, 2022
@b_fung I am very interested in what congress has to say about all of this TBH
Show thread5klp471Dec 18, 2022

@b_fung

musk is pissing away that market power.

Show threadTrevorDec 18, 2022
@b_fung Elon: “Banning links to other social media sites isn’t anti-competitive behavior, it’s content moderation.”
FTC: “We find that Twitter’s policy of banning links to other social media platforms does not rise to the level of anti-competitive behavior by the fact that Twitter’s real terms market share hovers between pointless and irrelevant in the social media space.”
Elon: “No, not like that!”
Show threadJames GrimmelmannDec 18, 2022
@b_fung @blakereid roll safe dot gif can’t prove Twitter has market power if it goes bankrupt first
Show threadex0du5Dec 18, 2022
@b_fung @gwensnyder This is one of the worst parts of the law as written and interpreted in case, as it is absolutely clear, fully measurable, with plenty of corroborating individual evidences that market power is at play here. We have metrics on network effects. The problem is that a century of neoliberal reforms has destroyed executive agency review of markets.
Show threadrpdavisDec 18, 2022
@b_fung @blakereid This is probably right — but what market does Twitter actually dominate? Maybe this conduct (including labeling Mastodon links as potentially malicious) could be subject to a stand-along section 5 action by the FTC? It seems like the Commission is looking for a case to use that authority, but they need a theory.
Show threadxyz123Dec 18, 2022
@b_fung To whatever extra it ever had market power, and realistically it never had much, that's disappearing fast.
Show threadClaireDec 18, 2022
@b_fung Buuuurn 😄
Show threadHyoun ParkDec 18, 2022
@b_fung this isn’t a great angle for the DOJ to pursue, to be honest. Banning social networks just makes Twitter less competitive and less functional. It’s like Coke deciding to stop being anywhere that Pepsi is sold. If Musk wants Twitter to be a walled garden where there are many other non walled options (including here, Post, Facebook, Discord, Parler, Reddit, etc…) that is his right.
Show threadFreebirdFrolicDec 18, 2022

@b_fung

Power fading rapidly

Show threadrdking647Dec 18, 2022
@b_fung in addition by stating that "no traditional publisher allows this and neither will Twitter." he exposed himself to liability for every tweet on tehesite since section 230 doesnt apply to publishers
Show threadSessyluDec 18, 2022
@b_fung and then there's EU law..
Show threadMark R. StonemanDec 18, 2022
@b_fung It's definitely a poor business decision.
Show threadianmilneDec 19, 2022
@b_fung so if Elmo drives enough users away, Twitter will no longer have market power, getting him off the hook - 7-D chess indeed!
Show threadPeoriaBummerDec 20, 2022
@b_fung @qjurecic
The 9th Circuit did not agree that refusing to link to competitors was anti-competitive 13 years ago when it decided LiveUniverse v MySpace.
https://www.masslawblog.com/antitrust/liveuniverse-v-myspace/
Ninth Circuit: Refusal to Allow Embedded Videos and Links in MySpace Not a Sherman Act Violation • Mass Law Blog

You would think that in a capitalist economy the right of one business to to say to another “I don’t want to deal with you” would be close to sacrosanct.  And, you would be right, with qualified exceptions in cases where the party refusing to deal has monopoly power.  Even then, the Supreme Court has […]

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