Antitrust regulators misjudged that data flows would remain separate

Evidence

It’s worth noting that an understanding of this logic of accumulation would have usefully contributed to the EU Commission’s deliberations on the WhatsApp acquisition, which was permitted based on assurances that data flows from the two businesses would remain separate. The commission would discover later that the extraction imperative and its necessary of economies of scale in supply operations compel the integration of surplus flows in the quest for better prediction products. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 329

Categorization

• SEED: The structural blindness of antitrust law to data integration post-merger is a strong essay/regulatory angle.
• QUESTION: What would merger review look like if it priced in post-merger data-integration incentives?
• XREF: connects to: Monopoly practices protect data supply routes rather than raising prices — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 419; Data extraction needs force previously separate platforms into direct competition. — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 90

Broader Connections

• Data extraction needs force previously separate platforms into direct competition. #corroborates (0.85) — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 90