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BTC

You all might think that I'm talking about bitcoin after seeing the title of today's blog, "BTC". But in this case, BTC doesn't stand for bitcoin, it's actually an acronym that I thought of, Big Tech Companies. That might be an existing acronym that I just took credit for, but whatever. 
I got inspiration to write about this topic after watching a little bit of the hearing of Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerburg, and Sundar Pichai. They are the CEOs of the tech conglomerates Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Alphabet Inc. (Google), respectively. 
As a kid i looked up to these companies and their founders. I doubt that their founders, asides from Mark Zuckerburg and Jeff Bezos would be that happy with what's going on now. 
These four have effectively eliminated all their competition (except for Amazon who was already the leading online retail website). They have violated laws in order to eliminate competition. 
Zuckerburg said in a conversation with his CFO that Instagram was becoming a threat, so they bought it. In the hearing, Zuckerburg refuted this by saying that the conversation never happened, or that he didn't phrase it like that. Google had stolen Yelp reviews. When Yelp questioned them about it, Google threatened to essentially completely remove Yelp from the web. They also prioritized their own ads or websites in searches rather than the most trending website. Apple has complete control over the app store. They choose what to showcase and what not to. 
These four companies are like monopolies in their respective fields. Because of congress' choice on who to have at this hearing, I was confused as to why they didn't have a representative from Disney, which has become a monopoly in the entertainment market. They bought out Lucasfilm, Marvel (which has the highest box office movie of all time), National Geographic, Fox, and many news networks. If congress is going to accuse Facebook of removing competition, Disney has just as many evidence against them in that claim. 
I also want to talk about how the companies treat their employees. Every year, a list dubbed "The Dirty Dozen" is released, including the names of twelve companies that have failed to provide safety to their employees from preventable illnesses or injuries. Within this list include Amazon and Facebook. I don't have that much evidence to put against Facebook, but I have heard of multiple incidents where Amazon has put profit over safety. 
I know for a fact that Amazon does not treat its blue collar workers with respect. They won't even listen to a doctor's notes saying that an employee should not work. Their break times are short, and some don't even have any, because of the massive warehouse spaces. The time it takes to walk to a break area and back is already a large portion of the break time given.
That's all I want to write today regarding these companies. I find it a shame that these companies, which represent capitalism and American freedom, have focused entirely on profit and nothing else, not even decency. 

Comments

  1. xmhJuly 31, 2020 at 3:29 AM

    I am glad you heard the hearing. It is very helpful to read some a detailed summary.

    ReplyDelete

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