Over the last few years, there have been increasing calls for several of the world’s largest conglomerates to break up. From reducing market competition to conducting questionable practices, there have been a number of criticisms aimed at some of the largest and most valuable companies across different industries.

This ranges from household names like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo in the food and drinks market, to corporate entities GVC Holdings, the parent company of many well-known gambling websites. But one area in which this is particularly prevalent is the tech sector. Just who are the tech conglomerates that need to be broken up, and could 2020 be the year that this happens? 

Facebook

Facebook is one of the most prominent companies that has come under scrutiny over the last few years. The social media giant’s privacy policies have been accused of allowing Russia to interfere with the 2016 US presidential election, which also resulted in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which it was found the data company had been harvesting millions of users’ private information for targeted political ads. The US Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5bn for the Cambridge Analytica scandal in July last year.

Another criticism directed at Facebook is that it has monopolised the market and reduced competition through the acquisition of companies like Instagram and WhatsApp. Facebook founder and owner Mark Zuckerberg reportedly boasted of acquiring Instagram to kill off Facebook’s competition as a photo sharing site. 

Even Chris Hughes, who co-founded Facebook when he was roommates with Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard, believes it’s time for the company to break up. According to Hughes, Zuckerberg holds more power than anyone else in the private sector or US government and has control over Facebook’s algorithms. 

The company has been a target of US presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren, who argued that Facebook wields too much power. Warren claims that Facebook engages anti-competitive practices, violates consumer privacy rights and fails to protect democracy, and therefore should be broken up.

Alphabet Inc. 

Alphabet Inc. was formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google in 2015 as part of an aim to make Google’s business “cleaner and more accountable”.

Despite that intention, there are many who believe that Google should be broken up. By far the world’s most-used search engine, Google has been accused of calibrating its algorithms to promote big businesses over small ones and removing autocomplete results that involve sensitive topics. 

There are also claims that Google has stifled competition. The company’s search engine has been criticised for favouring its own products over competitors in the placing of search results, with European regulars previously fining the company for promoting its own shopping service.

Google was fined £5bn by the European Commission  in July 2018 for violating the European Union’s antitrust rules, regulators ruling that the company forced smartphone makers to install Google apps.

One major company that has called for Google to be broken is News Corp. In March 2019, the Australian division of the mass media company told the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that Google’s search engine and third-party advertising platform should be split to create more of a level playing field for digital publishers competing for advertising.

2020 is sure to see Alphabet Inc. come under continued scrutiny from regulators, with 50 US states and territories currently investigating Google for “potential monopolistic behaviour”. In December 2019, the UK Competition and Markets Authority published a report that raised concerns about the market power of Google and Facebook, raising the question of possible interventions that include breaking up the companies.

Amazon 

Amazon, one of the world’s most valuable companies, has come a long way since its beginning as an online marketplace for books back in the 1990s. Today, Amazon sells just about everything you can think of, but it’s also extended its reach beyond the retail sector. From developing artificial intelligence like the Amazon Echo to acquiring grocery retailer Whole Foods Market, there’s no doubting Amazon’s role as one of the world’s biggest conglomerates.

Amazon has been criticised for its treatment of small businesses that sell their products on Amazon Marketplace. This is because, while this provides small businesses a sales platform, there are allegations that Amazon uses sellers’ data to compete against them. Some believe that such businesses are also at risk of being quashed by Amazon should they become too much of a threat to the products sold on the company’s in-house brand, AmazonBasics. 

One major case that Amazon was criticised for was its dispute with book publishing firm Hachette, which refused to give Amazon pricing control over its ebooks. Amazon responded by preventing customers from pre-ordering Hachette titles and even delaying the shipping of some Hachette orders, having a significant negative impact on sales. The company is currently being investigated for antitrust practices by the EU and the US.

Critics and regulators also have concerns regarding the sheer size of Amazon, with founder and owner Jeff Bezos controlling close to 50% of all e-commerce in the US. With Amazon continuing to come under scrutiny, Atlantic writer Franklin Foer believes Jeff Bezos will break up the company before regulators can. 

Apple 

Like the other companies on this list, Apple has been accused of infringing antitrust laws. These criticisms mainly centre on the App Store, with some claiming that Apple prioritises its own apps over those created by other developers, therefore harming competition. 

Last March, Spotify filed a complaint against Apple in Europe alleging that the company unfairly harms competition by placing a “tax” on rival digital subscription services, while Dutch regulars are currently investigating whether Apple favours its own apps. The New York Times also published a report last year that accused Apple of cracking down on apps designed to help people limit screen time and fight smartphone addiction. 

There are claims that Apple’s practices are damaging for consumers as well as companies. This is because Apple takes a 30% cut of revenue of third-party apps, preventing developers selling their apps on other marketplaces, and strongly discouraged Apple users from installing apps in other ways. Some critics have claimed this equates to Apple monopolising the app distribution space, potentially violating antitrust laws and raising prices for consumers.

In March 2019, the US Supreme Court ruled that consumers have the right to sue Apple as it is the company’s policies that affect the price of apps. The ruling was on a lawsuit filed by an iPhone user called Robert Pepper in 2011, who argued that the App Store is an unlawful monopoly that inflated prices for consumers. Elizabeth Warren recently argued that the App Store should be split from Apple’s other services.

Whether 2020 will be the year any of these conglomerates are broken up remains to be seen. Breaking up such powerful organisations isn’t easy - the US government tried to break up Microsoft in 2000 but ultimately failed, and it would be difficult to break up any of these powerful companies—-quite the opposite, in fact. However, it’s possible that this year could be the start of the process. 

Some commentators even believe that the breakup of big tech is already beginning. With regulators around the world continuing to investigate Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple, and politicians calling for action, 2020 could be a significant year for each of these four companies.