The Economist delves into the modern perils of tech titans such as Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google.

Jacob Miramar

2018-01-12 07:37:00 Fri ET

The Economist delves into the modern perils of tech titans such as Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google. These key tech titans often receive plaudits for making the world a better place. However, some pundits accuse these giants of being BAADD or big, addictive, anti-competitive, and destructive to democracy. Politicians from European Union and to U.S. Congress grill their CEOs; regulators impose taxes and fines on these tech titans; and one-time backers warn of their power to cause harm.

Techlash complaints, privacy issues, and fake news are rampant these days. Big tech platforms, particularly Amazon, Facebook, and Google, raise grave concerns about fair competition and consumer protection because these tech platforms often benefit from legal exemptions. Unlike publishers and media firms, Facebook and Google rake in hefty ad profits with minimal monitor and responsibility for content curation. For many years, American buyers on Amazon need not pay sales taxes. Also, Apple keep its profits as large offshore cash stockpiles in order to legitimately avoid paying U.S. corporate income taxes.

These platform orchestrators provide digital infrastructure for online ad revenue, consumer data, and service provision. Most of their services appear to be free, but consumers need to pay for these services by giving away their personal data. Their high stock valuation reinforces digital dominance and market concentration.

For instance, Amazon accounts for about half of U.S. online sales while Facebook and Google attract 70% of online advertisements in America. It is highly likely for regulatory agencies to tame these tech titans by probing into privacy invasion and tax avoidance. Either these tech giants break up into smaller entities (as Alphabet now prepares for Google and other subsidiaries), or the tech titans pay in the form of taxes, fines, or compliance costs.

 


If any of our AYA Analytica financial health memos (FHM), blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, and notifications etc, or any other form of online content curation, involves potential copyright concerns, please feel free to contact us at service@ayafintech.network so that we can remove relevant content in response to any such request within a reasonable time frame.

Blog+More

Sino-American trade talks make positive progress over 3 consecutive days.

Joseph Corr

2019-01-17 10:41:00 Thursday ET

Sino-American trade talks make positive progress over 3 consecutive days.

Sino-American trade talks make positive progress over 3 consecutive days as S&P 500 and global stock market indices post 3-day win streaks. Asian and Eu

+See More

Federal Reserve proposes to revamp post-crisis rules for U.S. banks.

Joseph Corr

2019-04-19 12:35:00 Friday ET

Federal Reserve proposes to revamp post-crisis rules for U.S. banks.

Federal Reserve proposes to revamp post-crisis rules for U.S. banks. The current proposals would prescribe materially less strict requirements for community

+See More

Harvard financial economist Alberto Cavallo empirically shows the recent *Amazon effect* of faster retail price adjustments.

Amy Hamilton

2018-08-23 11:34:00 Thursday ET

Harvard financial economist Alberto Cavallo empirically shows the recent *Amazon effect* of faster retail price adjustments.

Harvard financial economist Alberto Cavallo empirically shows the recent *Amazon effect* that online retailers such as Amazon, Alibaba, and eBay etc use fas

+See More

Capital market liberalization and globalization connect global financial markets to allow an ocean of money to flow through them.

Becky Berkman

2018-06-17 10:35:00 Sunday ET

Capital market liberalization and globalization connect global financial markets to allow an ocean of money to flow through them.

In the past decades, capital market liberalization and globalization have combined to connect global financial markets to allow an ocean of money to flow th

+See More

Personal finance and investment author Thomas Corley studies and shares the rich habits of self-made millionaires.

Charlene Vos

2018-03-23 08:26:00 Friday ET

Personal finance and investment author Thomas Corley studies and shares the rich habits of self-made millionaires.

Personal finance and investment author Thomas Corley studies and shares the rich habits of self-made millionaires. Corley has spent 5 years studying the dai

+See More

Buffett discusses Berkshire's cash ambition, its reinsurance business, and his succession plan.

Becky Berkman

2018-02-23 09:35:00 Friday ET

Buffett discusses Berkshire's cash ambition, its reinsurance business, and his succession plan.

Warren Buffett releases his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders as of February 2018. Buffett discusses Berkshire's core cash ambition, its

+See More