The world is far more interconnected than ever before, with 60% of the world’s population connecting to the internet. With wireless connectivity and cheap smartphones, the number of Indians connecting to the internet today is more than 70% of the population. While most people may believe that they connect to the internet, in reality, they connect to either Google or Facebook and to each other via these digital monopolies. People may remember the attempt by Facebook in India to introduce a truncated internet calling it Free Basics, which failed due to the collective resistance of the people. In 65 countries, unfortunately, Facebook succeeded in introducing Free Basics. Most who are on it believe that the Facebook world is the internet.
It is this ability to access the users and collect their data that gives Google and Facebook the dominant position they enjoy in the advertising world. Already, digital ad revenues are poised to overtake all other forms: television, print and radio combined. And Google and Facebook have emerged as duopolies in the digital advertising space. Google and Facebook can convert their monopoly power over search engines and social media into dominance over all other advertising players. This is a threat to all other media organisations that depend on advertisements. This is the reason that in the US, the UK and the EU, regulatory and legal action has been initiated to break Google and Facebook’s monopolies in advertising.
In India, the Modi government has been unwilling to confront the US duopoly of Google and Facebook. With the revelations from Facebook whistleblowers Sophie Zhang and Frances
— source newsclick.in | Prabir Purkayastha | 15 Dec 2021