Metaviews

What is the nature of Google’s monopoly and how should it be regulated or ended?
Until now that’s largely been a theoretical question, however the US Department of Justice has turned it into a political one with less than two weeks before election day.

As North Americans we often suffer from an insular outlook onto the world. We wrongly regard our position as the centre, and everything else as the periphery.
While there are a range of reasons as to why this is foolish and self-damaging, it is in the realm of technology that it can be particularly revealing.

The pandemic has changed our relationship with media. Although this shift has been subtle, and obviously overshadowed by everything else going on. Yet we shouldn’t take for granted how our consumption of media content has dramatically expanded, and our expectations of media have evolved tremendously.

For as long as people have been talking about (the potential of) the Internet, we’ve been anticipating and lamenting the digital divide. Like a moving target, the digital divide simultaneously appears surmountable while also inevitable. The rapid rate of technological change creates early adopters and thereby people who struggle to keep up.

This week the US Congress released their long anticipated report on competition in the digital marketplace. It is the result of an extensive investigation into the digital monopolies, and foreshadows a potentially significant shift in antitrust law, which could radically alter and reconfigure our digital world.

TikTok continues to have a transformative effect on our culture and the media industry. The latest great example of this, is the story of Nathan Apodaca a/k/a 420doggface208 and his lip sync of Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams.