[phrygian]

It is their platform, right? I’d assume they are within their rights to determine how Information flows within it. Obviously they’d want it to be in a way that positively impacts their bottom line. If the ability to reach people on their platform through pages is valuable, then i should not be surprised if they want those who use it to pay for it.

[adventured]

That's going to become increasingly the debate, as with Google.

You're starting to see more and more arguments in the media, in Washington DC, among anti-trust and anti-corporate power groups, that these platforms should be treated more like utilities. Given the culture at the moment, I'd expect those arguments to get a lot louder yet.

The platforms are responding predictably:

"Tech Pours Millions Into Lobbying While Pressure Mounts in Washington"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-20/tech-pour...

[yellow_postit]

Is there a proposal of what "like a utility" would look like for social media platforms?