[not_exactly__]

I think it’s a somewhat false dichotomy that splitting up US big tech makes China big tech win. The reason being that splitting up US big tech allow for more competitive US mid tech to arise that can outcompete China big tech in areas where it matters. I suppose you also want to prevent China Big Tech to throw its money around at Mid Tech the way US big tech did in the last 10-15 years.

[andreilys]

Why wouldn't an international tech co just be able to acquire domestic companies and/or launch products at a significant loss to gain market share in the US?

For example, break up Amazon and you now create an opening for Alibaba to expand into the US. Spending billions in order to get customers to shift to Alibaba instead of Amazon.

[bobthepanda]

This is probably overblown if only because practice has borne out that the Asian platform model has ported very poorly to the US.

Americans don't seem to be interested in using massive platform apps that contain the kitchen sink; WeChat is available but not popular, same for LINE, and Messenger never successfully became that.

Right now the most successful overseas strategy for a software company has been Tencent's games strategy (as opposed to their WeChat one), and in that respect they're mostly just a holding company.

[kmeisthax]

>Americans don't seem to be interested in using massive platform apps that contain the kitchen sink

I mean, Facebook's app is basically exactly that.

[bobthepanda]

And how many young people are using Facebook?

Facebook reported declines in daily active users in North America during Q3 2020: https://www.engadget.com/facebook-q3-2020-earnings-204642328...

[mucholove]

Dude. It’s a failed kitchen sink. We Chat was both my bank and my Amazon. I kept money on it and was the best way to go to the store. Heck—I even used WeChat as my Uber (Didi) because I didn’t have a Chinese card and the in-app WeChat app balance could pay for my ride.

[andreilys]

Not sure how you were able to miss TikTok which has absolutely blown every other tech co out of the water with respect to stickiness and engagement.

[bobthepanda]

ByteDance hasn't made substantial acquisitions since the launch of TikTok and it's not clear how they would leverage their current product's popularity into other domains.

[candiodari]

Euhm ... tiktok ? In US and EU.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1100836/number-of-us-tik...

[bobthepanda]

Responded here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27495441

[fauigerzigerk]

>Why wouldn't an international tech co just be able to acquire domestic companies and/or launch products at a significant loss to gain market share in the US?

Because international companies wouldn't be exempt from US regulation if they operate in the US.

[not_exactly__]

Well that was the gist of my last sentence regarding not letting external Big Tech behave like current Big Tech.

ps: fwiw, I’m against breaking up BigTech. It makes for good headlines but I don’t think it solves much.