A competitor is not defined by doing the same thing (for which you can always find a distinction), but by competing for the same customer resources.
Facebook used to only have text, and people linked to pictures on (mostly) Flickr. And then MZ realized 80% of Facebook posts Link to pictures on outside websites. That’s competition for ad placement; so FB added picture storage, albums, etc. same with Videos.
The customers, advertisers, previously had Flickr as an option. Now they don’t. That’s not a coincidence. And that’s not even illegal on FB’s part as long as they aren’t a monopoly - but now they are.
The Yale paper wants it both ways. If any app with friends/follows is a competitor then there’s plenty of competitors and the acquisition didn’t substantially reduce competition. Yet if only products similar to Facebook are considered competitors then they’ve never acquired a competitor.
Facebook used to only have text, and people linked to pictures on (mostly) Flickr. And then MZ realized 80% of Facebook posts Link to pictures on outside websites. That’s competition for ad placement; so FB added picture storage, albums, etc. same with Videos.
The customers, advertisers, previously had Flickr as an option. Now they don’t. That’s not a coincidence. And that’s not even illegal on FB’s part as long as they aren’t a monopoly - but now they are.