Position Paper, 400 WORD MAX.
Please analyze and answer the question/prompt below, taking a clear position and supporting your position. Include your consideration of the trade-offs or drawbacks to your position. You do not need to do any additional research to develop your response. However, your analysis should consider not only the reading specifically assigned for Day #4 of the module, but the entire content of the module including all readings, class discussions and class activities.
Prompt:
Recently, several big tech companies have been experiencing growing criticism for alleged anticompetitive behavior. Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple are currently under broad antitrust review opened by the US justice department in July 2019. Facebook is under anti-trust investigation by 47 state attorneys general. The EU recently fined Google $2.7 billion for manipulating its search results.
The Wall Street Journal reported (Links to an external site.) that Amazon changed its product search algorithm to prioritize items that generate higher profit margins for the Amazon (including its own branded products) over items that Amazon changed its product search algorithm to prioritize items that generate higher profit margins for Amazon (including its own branded products), and price gouged to drive out competitors.
Which issues highlighted in Day #4 readings do you think are most threatening to consumer welfare? Do you believe that disruptive innovation will sufficiently address those issues? Should government regulators intervene to control the behavior of big tech firms? Please justify your positions.
Readings:
“Competition, not break-up, is the cure for tech giants’ dominance: Taming big tech. (2019, Mar 13). The Economist”
“Godwin, M. (2019, April 30). A Facebook request: Write a code of tech ethics. Los Angeles Times.”
“Yglesias, M. (2019, May 3). The push to break up big tech explained. Vox”
Position Statements – Format
The Position Statement should be 400 words, single-spaced. Font size, margins, and number of pages are unrestricted due to the 400-word limit and single-spacing requirement.
