Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: The 2021 IDA Debate on Breaking Up Big Tech

Abstract

On November 8, 2021, two teams of IDA researchers participated in a debate on breaking up big tech companies like Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google, and Microsoft (FAANG-M). The teams one pro-breakup and one anti-break up responded to four questions: Do these large multi-national corporations (MNCs) pose national security and/or economic security problems? Is there something about the current state of the world that exacerbates these problems and/or affects the decision about breaking them up and/or how to break them up? Do the benefits of breaking up these companies outweigh the risks and does that answer depend on the company? Would a breakup actually achieve the desired results and is it the best approach? This paper captures each teams arguments and responses to the four questions and identifies actions taken after the debate occurred.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 03, 2023
Accession Number
AD1211548

Entities

People

  • Claire E. Haas
  • Michelle G. Albert

Organizations

  • Institute for Defense Analyses

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Commerce
  • Congress
  • Disinformation
  • Economic Security
  • Governments
  • Information Operations
  • Information Systems
  • Intellectual Property
  • Internet
  • Law
  • Mobile Phones
  • National Security
  • Security
  • Smartphones
  • Social Media
  • Standards
  • Terrorism
  • Virtual Reality

Readers

  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.
  • Defense Technology Research and Development.
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.