German SPD Leader Calls For Breakup Of Internet Giants Due To Abuse Of Monopoly

German SPD Leader Calls for Breakup of Internet Giants Due to Abuse of Monopoly

German Social Democratic Party (SPD) head Andrea Nahles called on Monday for EU-wide discussion of the possibility of splitting up Internet monopolies and reverse past acquisitions in the sector, pointing to the abuse of market power by some of tech giants like Google and Facebook.

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2018) German Social Democratic Party (SPD) head Andrea Nahles called on Monday for EU-wide discussion of the possibility of splitting up internet monopolies and reverse past acquisitions in the sector, pointing to the abuse of market power by some of tech giants like Google and Facebook.

"Internet multinationals do not face up to their responsibility for the social market economy and fair competition, we in the EU will have to discuss whether a splitting of the companies is necessary ... It would not be a precedent step to undo such mergers if necessary and to split the monopolists," Nahles wrote in her op-ed piece for the Handelsblatt newspaper.

From today's perspective, acquisitions of such companies as WhatsApp and Waze by Facebook and Google, respectively, should not have been allowed, she argued.

"Internet multinationals should therefore have a well-intentioned self-interest to take the criticism of their business models seriously. The fact that Facebook now publicly admits mistakes is hopefully a first sign of such rethinking," SPD leader noted.

Digitization will only be positive if it serves society as a whole rather than a few profit-takers, Nahles concluded.