Internet Giants Like Apple and Google 'Abuse Their Privileged Position', Says Spotify CEO (cnbc.com)

Giant companies like Apple and Alphabet's Google "can and do abuse their privileged positions," according to a letter sent to the European Commission by music streaming service Spotify, rival firm Deezer and Rocket Internet, among others. From a report: "Our collective experience is that where online platforms have a strong incentive to turn into gatekeepers because of their dual role, instead of maximizing consumer welfare," the CEOs wrote. In one part of the letter, the CEOs said examples of platforms turning into gatekeepers include them "restricting access to data or interaction with consumers, biased ranking and search results to lack of clarity, imbalanced terms and conditions and preference of their own vertically integrated services."

Comments

Well he would, wouldn't he?

[Hognoxious]

n/c

Net neutrality

[NReitzel]

If you think things are bad now, just wait until there is no regulation on net neutrality.

Well, Duhh

[WheezyJoe]

It is human nature to abuse privilege once it is attained. There is simply no good reason not to.

Morality is for chumps.

Mod parent up. and I'll add that if Spotify's CEO had dominant market share, he'd be abusing a little too.

..and if he didn't, the Board would fire him for, essentially, leaving free earnings on the table - costing them money. Unless there's some pesky government regulation that'll fine you or throw you in jail, you're a fool NOT to take full advantage.. 'cause someone else will.

Difference between paternalism and abuse

[goombah99]

I fully agree that in general walled gardens are bad. But in specifics I disagree. With google, and even more with facebook, the purpose of the wall is sell access to the cattle inside. With apple, I feel like the purpose of the wall is to protect the sheep from predators. perhaps I'm deluding myself but I feel like I see signs that apple isn't selling me out as a product in every possible way. The result of course is that apple has to make a profit some other way. Charging more for their devices is one way, and Taking a cut on apps is another. And to do that they have to prevent other ways of selling apps. On the flip side, I do feel a lot safer installing apps on my iphones than I do on my androids. Most of my rationale for paying more for apple products rests on peace of mind and lack of complexity.

Thus my feeling is apple uses it's power paternalistically, and google is more of the chicken farmer approach where the chickens don't know they are going to be put in a pie.