经济学人下载:站在风口浪尖的Facebook(1)

Business 

商业版块

Big tech and antitrust 

大型科技企业与反垄断

Battle commences 

战争打响

A formidable alliance takes on Facebook. Investors don’t seem to care 

一个强大的联盟与Facebook展开了较量。但投资者似乎不以为意。

Letitia James, New York’s attorney-general, couldn’t be blunter in describing the antitrust case lodged on December 9th against the world’s biggest social network. “By using its vast troves of data and money Facebook has squashed or hindered what the company perceived as potential threats. They’ve reduced choices for consumers, they stifled innovation and they degraded privacy protections for millions of Americans,” she declared, summarising the accusations. Forty-five states joined her bipartisan coalition against the giant. Separately, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued Facebook for monopolistic practices in social-networking and demanded remedies including the firm’s break-up. 

12月9日，美国政府针对全球最大的社交网络Facebook发起了反垄断诉讼，纽约州总检察长莱蒂娅·詹姆斯言辞犀利地对此诉讼案进行了描述。“Facebook通过使用自身巨大的数据和资金宝库，对其认为的潜在威胁进行压制或阻碍。他们限制了消费者的选择，扼杀了创新，并减少了数百万美国人获得隐私保护的机会，”她在总结时宣称。她同45个州联手组成两党联盟，共同抵制社交网络巨头Facebook。另外，联邦贸易委员会对Facebook在社交网络领域的垄断行为提起诉讼，并要求Facebook采取分拆等补救措施。

A few years ago co-ordinated action by 46 states and the FTC that could split Facebook apart was unthinkable, says Lina Khan, an antitrust scholar at Columbia Law School. But the case is about more than narrow competition law. The controversies around Facebook’s privacy practices, the spread of fake news and conspiracy theories on the platform, and its exploitation by authoritarian regimes mean regulators and politicians are set on forcing change. 

哥伦比亚法学院的反垄断学者丽娜·可汗说，46个州和联邦贸易委员会要是在几年前发起可能会使Facebook拆分的联合行动，那太匪夷所思了。但此案不仅仅是关于狭义的竞争法。Facebook还存在诸多方面的争议，包括Facebook在用户隐私上的做法、平台上虚假新闻和阴谋论的传播以及独裁政权的利用，这都意味着监管机构和政客们开始迫使Facebook发生变革。

Will they succeed? The cases look strong. Experts judge Facebook to be the lowest-hanging antitrust fruit, alongside Google (which America’s Justice Department sued over alleged monopoly abuses in October). Amazon and Apple are in the crosshairs, but those cases will take longer, if they come at all, says an antitrust expert. 

他们会成功吗？诉讼案看起来胜算很大。专家们认为，同谷歌（美国司法部10月因谷歌涉嫌垄断滥用而起诉谷歌）一样，Facebook的案件轻而易举。一位反垄断专家表示，亚马逊和苹果正处于众矢之的，但针对亚马逊和苹果的反垄断诉讼案如果真的来了，将需要更长的时间。