Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency: Bad for Privacy, Bad for Competition

Allowing Facebook to mint its own coin, the Libra, would turn it into the greatest anti-competitive trust case in history. It would make the early 20th century Morgans or Rockefellers seem downright competitive. Even before it unveiled its vision for a global cryptocurrency this month, Facebook was already a near-monopoly in social media, and part of a duopoly in its main markets. Together with Google, it controls 82% of the digital advertising market. In the past, Facebook has purchased any company that threatened it, e.g. Instagram and WhatsApp. And, when it spots a company that won’t sell itself or would be difficult to purchase, it uses the “embrace, enhance and extinguish” technique.   Facebook saw Snap Inc. (maker of Snapchat) contesting a small part of its franchise, so it embraced Snap’s best features and integrated them into its app. Now, Facebook is hoping to extinguish Snap as a competitor. Compare the stock performance of Snap and Facebook, and you will probably place your bet on Facebook.