AltaVista, the first site to allow searches of the full text of the web, was swiftly dethroned by Google, which has dominated the field in most of the world ever since. Google’s search engine, still the heart of its business, has made its parent, Alphabet, one of the world’s most valuable companies, with revenues of $283bn in 2022 and a market capitalisation of $1.3trn. Google is not merely a household name; it is a verb.
But nothing lasts for ever, particularly in technology. Just ask IBM, which once ruled business computing, or Nokia, once the leader in mobile phones. Both were dethroned because they fumbled big technological transitions. Now tech firms are salivating over an innovation that might herald a similar shift—and a similar opportunity.
[This is why Section 230 efforts against Big Tech may end up missing the mark. The issue isn’t so much who’s in charge at any one time, but the process by which they dominate — mergers and acquisitions. Without that consolidation, Section 230 wouldn’t matter, and with it, the threat of repealing Section 230 is much lower. Focus on unwinding some of these M&As and preventing further consolidation, and we can return innovation and competition to their usefulness in imposing market accountability. — Ed]
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