Big Tech companies in the area of communications and social media play an ever increasing role in our lives. They have the ability to store, analyze or sell almost every bit of digital communication metadata and while making huge profits with advertising or information routing based on users and customer behavior or political affiliation.
EU Accuses Amazon of Using Merchants’ Data in to Boost Unfair Competition
European Union officials charged Amazon with antitrust violations Tuesday for allegedly harvesting data from outside merchants to boost its own retail business.
The European Commission said it has also opened a second antitrust investigation into whether the e-commerce giant gives special treatment to its own offers and to merchants who use its delivery services.
https://nypost.com/2020/11/10/eu-accuses-amazon-of-using-merchants-data-to-help-itself/
Big Tech companies can sell or exchange this information voluntarily or involuntarily with governments or tech tyrants. In this way they have an advantage over small competitors and a leverage on politics or social agenda. While doing so and leveraging this information, they may takeover potential competitors or be involved in antitrust activities.
