A report by Barack Obama’s former economics adviser gives the UK government some methods to encourage competition.
The increasing dominance of tech giants « is limiting competition and consumer choice and innovation », a new independent review has warned the government.
However, the review’s lead author stopped short of supporting Senator Elizabeth Warren’s plan to split up the tech companies, saying the UK « can do better ».
Former Barack Obama economic adviser Jason Furman was asked by the Treasury in September 2018 to lead an investigation into competition in the digital marketplace.
His review, which is published today, concluded that the lack of competition for tech monopolies such as Facebook, Amazon and Google was harming consumers.
« A few companies are dominating lots of markets, » Mr Furman told Sky News, « and when you don’t have a lot of competition you don’t have much consumer choice, you don’t have as much quality you don’t have as much innovation. »
Asked if that meant the tech giants should be broken up, Mr Furman doubted whether the UK was even capable of such a move.
« It’s not really an option for the UK, » he said. « If the UK wanted to break up Facebook, I’m not sure Facebook would really listen.
