Illinois has been a leader in protecting its residents’ personal information from unannounced snooping by internet companies. But Illinois can’t do the job alone.
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from the District of Columbia and 46 states, including Illinois, filed antitrust lawsuits against Facebook, alleging it has engaged in anti-competitive behavior and recommending the company be broken up.
The lawsuits are a much-needed effort to rein in an online behemoth that keeps getting bigger and bigger by trading on individuals’ information.
Among other complaints, Facebook is alleged to have broken antitrust laws by buying up potential competitors, such as Instagram and WhatsApp and about a dozen others. The state attorneys general say Facebook uses a “buy-or-bury strategy that thwarts competition and harms both users and advertisers.”
Taking over or destroying competitors leaves users nowhere to turn if they don’t like Facebook’s policy of generating profits by vacuuming up and monetizing our personal data. And, yes, Facebook collects the data even of those who don’t use its platform.
Before its purchase by Facebook, for example, WhatsApp kept users’ data private, but Facebook changed that policy. Where do users who liked that privacy turn now? Where do users go who want to participate in online public spaces but want to keep their personal information to themselves? How would a start-up that wants to provide both privacy and a social media platform that competes with Facebook get off the ground in this environment?
Facebook denies anti-competitive behavior, but its massive growth and piles of cash have given the $800 billion company the power to undercut new competition, which discourages innovation. It also gives an outsized voice to fake and anonymous accounts while amplifying dangerous conspiracies, hate messages and government propaganda around the world in a way that isn’t now offset by competing, better-run platforms.
Letting disinformation run rampant
In September, the Biden campaign called Facebook “the nation’s foremost propagator of disinformation about the voting process.” Also in September, BuzzFeed published a 6,600-word memo by former Facebook data scientist Sophie Zhang, who said Facebook often pretty much looked the other way as its site was used to undermine elections or shape political affairs internationally.
The antitrust filings are an overdue effort to ensure no single company amasses an overwhelming dossier on every American by buying or squeezing out competitors. The Justice Department also sued Google two months ago, alleging it was protecting a monopoly. Breaking up Facebook could restore competition and ensure no single company has such enormous sway over public discourse.
Illinois has sued Facebook before. In September, Facebook agreed to pay $650 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged the social media giant had broken Illinois’ strict biometric privacy law, which requires companies to get users’ consent before harvesting and profiting from such data as fingerprints and facial recognition. But it’s up to the federal government to enforce antitrust laws.
Tech companies have grown so large — and the way they harvest users’ personal information is so opaque — that we need the government to step in to protect consumers. The federal government should ensure tech companies aren’t violating the principles of antitrust laws, and the Illinois Legislature should build on its past work to ensure residents of the state are notified whenever any tech company, large or small, plans to vacuum up their personal information for its own gain.
State Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, said he expects bills to be introduced in the next legislative session to protect individual privacy.
“People are learning more and more each day how their privacy could be compromised,” Harris said.
Illinois and the nation deserve a fair and competitive online marketplace that honors privacy, both in corporate enterprise and in public affairs.
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