Online consumer choice stifled by lack of competition | EurActiv

Online consumer choice stifled by lack of competition | EurActiv

SPECIAL REPORT
/ Consumer choice to access the best services at the most convenient
prices depends on the availability of competing offers, a pillar of
antitrust policy that is increasingly put into question by the growing
power of online “free” services. 

The dominant business model on the Internet is based on services
provided allegedly for free, such as social networking, search or
emails. In fact, these services require users to relinquish a massive
amount of personal data.

Sometimes users are aware of this exchange and agree with it, but in
most cases, they give away their personal information passively, without
any understanding of the value of their data, neither of the use that
will be made of it.

Online companies thrive under this misunderstanding. Google and
Facebook, as pioneers of this new trend, are among those who profit the
most. Their market capitalisation, several times higher than their
assets, is proof of their power.