The U.S. Is Coming Closer To Breaking Up Big Tech
U.S senators will soon reveal the big plans to split up the Big Tech. Senator Mike Lee along with other senators is trying to pass a bill that would compel Big Tech to break apart. Currently, the Big Tech accounts for a lion’s share of the ad industry.
The new bill attempts to split the Big Tech companies like Meta, Google, and Amazon to stop devouring the digital ad industry. Once implemented, these companies would lose their stronghold in the digital ad industry.
How will Senator Mike Lee’s Bill affect Google Ads?
The current state of the digital ads industry showcases Google’s control over it. Similarly, Meta and Amazon are also the other two biggest players in the digital ads segment.
Senator Mike Lee’s bill aims to divest these companies in order to break their control over advertising. The bill could force Meta to divest Instagram or for Google to divest Chrome, and that is music to the ears for small-scale advertisers.
The bill also reveals how Big Tech controls the majority of the digital ad industry. Products like Google Chrome, Instagram, and Amazon Marketplace have millions of visitors. Moreover, Big Tech controls the advertising side of things too. It means that they regulate the rates of a spot on their platform to showcase ads. Any brand that wishes to advertise has to comply with the rules laid by Big Tech.
Apart from using the ad platform, advertisers also need to use proprietary tools offered by Big Tech to execute ad campaigns. So, they have granular control over buying, selling, and execution phase of each advertisement project. If the bill gets approval in the U.S, Google and the other two brands would have to loosen their control over the digital ads industry.
Current Revenue Statistics
Big Tech raked in $211 billion dollars in 2021. Out of this, Google remains the biggest earner from ad revenue. It is expected because Google is the default search engine for over 90 percent of the global internet users.
Google earned up to $55 billion dollars from its advertising business in a single quarter. These numbers indicate that Big Tech enjoys a major chunk of the advertising industry while smaller players yearn for more.
If Senator Mike Lee is successful in passing the bill, it would gravely hurt Big Tech. Meta is considering hiring fewer people this year after a noticeable decline in revenue. This new bill could make matters even worse for Zuckerberg’s Metaverse vision.
