According to billionaire investor-turned philanthropist, George Soros, the days of tech giants Facebook and Google are numbered. Soros was speaking at an annual dinner he hosts each year at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He told guests that the two goliaths of the IT industry, Facebook and Google, effectively control more than half of all Internet advertising revenue and criticised their monopolistic behaviour. He said though these companies have in the past often played an innovative and liberating role, as they have grown their monopolies they have in fact become obstacles to innovation. For Facebook and Google to continue to maintain their dominance, they need to expand their networks and increase their share of users’ attention, said Soros, adding that the more time users spend on these platforms, the more valuable these brands become. He maintained that the exceptional profitability of social media companies is largely a function of the fact that they don’t pay for content ...
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