This is a political stunt. If Lena Khan and the FTC were actually interested in consumer protection, they would go after other industries first.
Totally! As we all know, the FTC is legally bound to only doing one thing at a time.
A more aggressive FTC is starting to target drug mergers and industry middlemen: https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/regulatory/more-aggressive-...
How the FTC Is Tackling ‘Below the Radar’ Healthcare Deals : https://medcitynews.com/2023/09/how-the-ftc-is-tackling-belo...
FTC warns of ‘rampant’ pharma consolidation as it targets $28bn Amgen deal: https://www.ft.com/content/bbe06477-22e6-4d46-a4c2-03964a2f8...
FTC writing new internet rules to safeguard users’ search, health and location data: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/nov/22/ftc-writing...
The influence is nowhere near as negative as the impact from the other industries I mentioned.
They gained gained market share by providing better goods and services than the alternatives.
Still, there are viable alternatives to essentially every good or service provided by these companies.
On Android you can sideload apps, install alternate app stores.
Implying these companies are monopolies is an overstatement.