IT HAS BECOME impossible to avoid the debate over how to tame the world’s ever more powerful technology companies. On March 8th Elizabeth Warren, a left-leaning senator from Massachusetts and candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, caused a sensation by calling for the big Silicon Valley platform firms, such as Facebook and Google, to be broken up. In Europe, meanwhile, tech firms face death by a thousand cuts, as national governments and the European Union stab at them over privacy, fake news, tax and competition.
In the midst of these fights, a report published on March 13th provides a welcome note of calm. Written by a commission appointed by the British government and led by Jason Furman, who was an economic adviser in Barack Obama’s White House, the Report of the Digital Competition Expert Panel recommends more competition rather than stifling regulation or break-ups. To this end it proposes a new regulator to force firms to rewire themselves, so that users have control of their data and can switch between providers. It also suggests modernising antitrust rules.
Source: The Economist
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