Many tech companies are very close to becoming monopolies. Companies like Whatsapp and Imessage are the only end-to-end encrypted messaging systems. Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has been starting to hold companies accountable. It is tough because all of these tech companies are new and don't exactly have a supply and demand model. I guess their supply could be the users information who use the app. The demand would be the need for information. It is not like eggs or fuel but instead its information or security. It could be predatory pricing because its free of charge but your information is given out without you knowing what exactly is being sent out. Who wouldn't want a free product? It is tough because we need these apps so how do you combat apps like facebook (which offers free services) from buying Instagram which is also free. I think in this upcoming year we will not see much change because it is still very new.

References

Stoltz, M. (2023, January 9). The year we got serious about tech monopolies: 2022 in Review. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved January 31, 2023, from https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/year-we-got-serious-about-tech-monopolies

respond with value-added comments to your classmates

Example:

I agree that the company is a monopoly. In my own line of work, I had to use WhatsApp a lot and it seemed to affect all other forms of communication with my job. I actually got hacked many times through the system which not only left me and my family at risk but also the company I worked for. Even though I don't use it anymore it still affects us to this day. It would be better if the monopoly spent some money on extra security or offer it to prime members.