A New AI Lexicon: Monopolization

Regulators in the EU and US have recently drawn attention to the market power and monopolistic behavior of big tech firms. Lawmakers in the EU argue that'traditional businesses are increasingly dependent on a limited number of large online platforms' and that these'gatekeepers' leverage their privileged position to stifle competition and enter new markets at a rapid pace (EPRS 2020). Striking a similar tone, lawmakers in the US claim that these companies have'abused their dominant positions, setting and often dictating prices and rules for commerce, search, advertising, social networking and publishing' (Kang and McCabe 2020). Yet these arguments tend to focus mostly on the conduct and market position of online platforms, while ignoring the underlying technologies by which they operate. But what if techniques like machine learning (ML) are themselves factors in the continuous expansion of already oversized tech giants?