Copy, acquire, kill: how Facebook stays on top

Mark Zuckerberg was questioned at the US Congress about Facebook’s purchase of Instagram
Mark Zuckerberg was questioned at the US Congress about Facebook’s purchase of Instagram
GRAEME JENNINGS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The sharp tactics employed by the world’s largest technology companies to cement their dominance over the digital economy have been revealed in documents released by US politicians.

Facebook adopts a “copy, acquire, and kill” strategy when rivals emerge, Amazon aggressively prices out competition and Apple stifles independent developers with its app store fees, according to documents and testimony at a historic inquiry into Silicon Valley.

The revelations during a five-hour hearing in Washington on Wednesday are likely to strengthen calls for tighter regulation of America’s big tech firms, whose share prices and market power have grown during the pandemic. Some of the country’s most senior politicians cast Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, as “robber barons” of the 21st century.

Monopolies