2019-03-08 Elizabeth Warren.Here’s how we can break up Big Tech

Refer To：《Here’s how we can break up Big Tech》。

Twenty-five years ago, Facebook, Google, and Amazon didn’t exist. Now they are among the most valuable and well-known companies in the world. It’s a great story — but also one that highlights why the government must break up monopolies and promote competitive markets.

二十五年前，Facebook、Google 和 Amazon 并不存在。现在，它们是世界上最有价值和知名的公司之一。这是一个伟大的故事——但也突显了为什么政府必须打破垄断并促进竞争市场。

In the 1990s, Microsoft — the tech giant of its time — was trying to parlay its dominance in computer operating systems into dominance in the new area of web browsing. The federal government sued Microsoft for violating anti-monopoly laws and eventually reached a settlement. The government’s antitrust case against Microsoft helped clear a path for Internet companies like Google and Facebook to emerge.

在 1990 年代，微软——当时的科技巨头——试图将其在计算机操作系统中的主导地位转化为在新兴的网页浏览领域的主导地位。联邦政府起诉微软违反反垄断法，并最终达成和解。政府对微软的反垄断案件帮助为谷歌和 Facebook 等互联网公司铺平了道路。

The story demonstrates why promoting competition is so important: it allows new, groundbreaking companies to grow and thrive — which pushes everyone in the marketplace to offer better products and services. Aren’t we all glad that now we have the option of using Google instead of being stuck with Bing?

这个故事展示了为什么促进竞争如此重要：它让新的、突破性的公司得以成长和繁荣——这推动了市场上的每个人提供更好的产品和服务。我们不都很高兴现在可以选择使用谷歌而不是被困在必应上吗？

Today’s big tech companies have too much power — too much power over our economy, our society, and our democracy. They’ve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else. And in the process, they have hurt small businesses and stifled innovation.

当今的大型科技公司拥有过多的权力——对我们的经济、社会和民主拥有过多的权力。它们摧毁了竞争，利用我们的私人信息牟利，并使竞争环境对其他人不利。在这个过程中，它们伤害了小企业并扼杀了创新。

I want a government that makes sure everybody — even the biggest and most powerful companies in America — plays by the rules. And I want to make sure that the next generation of great American tech companies can flourish. To do that, we need to stop this generation of big tech companies from throwing around their political power to shape the rules in their favor and throwing around their economic power to snuff out or buy up every potential competitor.

我想要一个确保每个人——甚至是美国最大和最有权势的公司——都遵守规则的政府。我还想确保下一代伟大的美国科技公司能够蓬勃发展。为此，我们需要阻止这一代大型科技公司利用其政治权力来制定有利于自己的规则，并利用其经济实力来扼杀或收购每一个潜在的竞争对手。

That’s why my administration will make big, structural changes to the tech sector to promote more competition — including breaking up Amazon, Facebook, and Google.

这就是为什么我的政府将对科技行业进行重大结构性变革以促进更多竞争——包括拆分亚马逊、Facebook 和谷歌。

How the new tech monopolies hurt small businesses and innovation 新技术垄断如何损害小企业和创新

America’s big tech companies provide valuable products but also wield enormous power over our digital lives. Nearly half of all e-commerce goes through Amazon. More than 70% of all Internet referral traffic goes through sites owned or operated by Google or Facebook.

美国的大型科技公司提供了有价值的产品，但也对我们的数字生活拥有巨大的控制权。近一半的电子商务通过亚马逊进行，超过70%的互联网推荐流量来自谷歌或Facebook拥有或运营的网站。

As these companies have grown larger and more powerful, they have used their resources and control over the way we use the Internet to squash small businesses and innovation, and substitute their own financial interests for the broader interests of the American people. To restore the balance of power in our democracy, to promote competition, and to ensure that the next generation of technology innovation is as vibrant as the last, it’s time to break up our biggest tech companies.

随着这些公司变得越来越庞大和强势，它们利用其资源和对互联网使用方式的控制，压制小企业和创新，将自身的经济利益置于美国人民的整体利益之上。为了恢复民主制度中的权力平衡，促进竞争，并确保下一代技术创新与上一代一样充满活力，现在是拆分这些最大科技公司的时候了。

America’s big tech companies have achieved their level of dominance in part based on two strategies:

美国的大型科技公司在一定程度上通过两种策略实现了它们的主导地位：

Using Mergers to Limit Competition. Facebook has purchased potential competitors Instagram and WhatsApp. Amazon has used its immense market power to force smaller competitors like Diapers.com to sell at a discounted rate. Google has snapped up the mapping company Waze and the ad company DoubleClick. Rather than blocking these transactions for their negative long-term effects on competition and innovation, government regulators have waved them through.
通过合并限制竞争。 Facebook 已收购潜在竞争对手 Instagram 和 WhatsApp。亚马逊利用其巨大的市场力量迫使像Diapers.com这样的小型竞争对手以折扣价出售。谷歌收购了地图公司 Waze 和广告公司 DoubleClick。政府监管机构没有因这些交易对竞争和创新的长期负面影响而阻止它们，而是放行了。

Using Proprietary Marketplaces to Limit Competition. Many big tech companies own a marketplace — where buyers and sellers transact — while also participating on the marketplace. This can create a conflict of interest that undermines competition. Amazon crushes small companies by copying the goods they sell on the Amazon Marketplace and then selling its own branded version. Google allegedly snuffed out a competing small search engine by demoting its content on its search algorithm, and it has favored its own restaurant ratings over those of Yelp.
通过专有市场限制竞争。许多大型科技公司拥有一个市场——买卖双方在此进行交易——同时也参与市场。这可能会造成利益冲突，削弱竞争。亚马逊通过复制小公司在亚马逊市场上销售的商品，然后销售自己的品牌版本来打击小公司。谷歌据称通过在其搜索算法中降低竞争对手小型搜索引擎的内容排名来扼杀竞争，并且偏袒自己的餐厅评级而不是 Yelp 的评级。

Weak antitrust enforcement has led to a dramatic reduction in competition and innovation in the tech sector. Venture capitalists are now hesitant to fund new startups to compete with these big tech companies because it’s so easy for the big companies to either snap up growing competitors or drive them out of business. The number of tech startups has slumped, there are fewer high-growth young firms typical of the tech industry, and first financing rounds for tech startups have declined 22% since 2012.

反垄断执法不力导致科技行业的竞争和创新大幅减少。风险投资家现在犹豫是否为新创企业提供资金以与这些大型科技公司竞争，因为这些大公司要么轻松收购成长中的竞争对手，要么将其挤出市场。科技初创公司的数量已经下降，典型于科技行业的高增长年轻公司减少，自 2012 年以来，科技初创公司的首次融资轮次下降了 22%。

With fewer competitors entering the market, the big tech companies do not have to compete as aggressively in key areas like protecting our privacy. And some of these companies have grown so powerful that they can bully cities and states into showering them with massive taxpayer handouts in exchange for doing business, and can act — in the words of Mark Zuckerberg — “more like a government than a traditional company.”

由于进入市场的竞争者减少，科技巨头在保护隐私等关键领域的竞争也不再积极。一些公司甚至变得如此强大，以至于能够胁迫城市和州提供大额税收优惠以换取商业投资。正如马克·扎克伯格所言，这些公司“更像是政府，而不是传统公司”。

We must ensure that today’s tech giants do not crowd out potential competitors, smother the next generation of great tech companies, and wield so much power that they can undermine our democracy.

我们必须确保今天的科技巨头不会挤压潜在的竞争对手，扼杀下一代伟大的科技公司，并且不会拥有如此大的权力以至于可以破坏我们的民主。

Restoring competition in the tech sector 恢复科技行业的竞争

America has a long tradition of breaking up companies when they have become too big and dominant — even if they are generally providing good service at a reasonable price.

美国有着拆分过于庞大和垄断企业的悠久传统，即使这些企业通常能以合理的价格提供良好的服务。

A century ago, in the Gilded Age, waves of mergers led to the creation of some of the biggest companies in American history — from Standard Oil and JPMorgan to the railroads and AT&T. In response to the rise of these “trusts,” Republican and Democratic reformers pushed for antitrust laws to break up these conglomerations of power to ensure competition.

一个世纪前的镀金时代（Gilded Age），一波波的企业合并催生了美国历史上一些最大的公司——从标准石油（Standard Oil）和摩根大通（JPMorgan）到铁路公司和美国电话电报公司（AT&T）。面对这些“托拉斯”（trusts）的崛起，共和党和民主党的改革者推动实施反垄断法，拆分这些权力集群以保障市场竞争。

But where the value of the company came from its network, reformers recognized that ownership of a network and participating on the network caused a conflict of interest. Instead of nationalizing these industries — as other countries did — Americans in the Progressive Era decided to ensure that these networks would not abuse their power by charging higher prices, offering worse quality, reducing innovation, and favoring some over others. We required a structural separation between the network and other businesses, and also demanded that the network offer fair and non-discriminatory service.

然而，当企业的价值来源于其网络时，改革者认识到，拥有网络的同时在网络上参与经营会导致利益冲突。在其他国家选择将这些行业国有化的背景下，美国进步时代的决策者决定采取不同的做法：确保这些网络不会滥用其权力，通过提高价格、降低质量、减少创新或偏袒某些企业来谋取不当利益。为此，我们要求网络与其他业务之间进行结构性分离，并规定网络必须提供公平且无歧视的服务。

In this tradition, my administration would restore competition to the tech sector by taking two major steps:

在这一传统中，我的政府将通过采取两个主要步骤来恢复科技行业的竞争：

First, by passing legislation that requires large tech platforms to be designated as “Platform Utilities” and broken apart from any participant on that platform.

首先，通过立法要求大型科技平台被指定为“平台公用事业”（Platform Utilities），并与平台上的任何参与者分离。

Companies with an annual global revenue of $25 billion or more and that offer to the public an online marketplace, an exchange, or a platform for connecting third parties would be designated as “platform utilities.”

全球年收入达到或超过250亿美元的公司，如果向公众提供在线市场、交易所或连接第三方的平台，则将被指定为“平台公用事业”。

These companies would be prohibited from owning both the platform utility and any participants on that platform. Platform utilities would be required to meet a standard of fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory dealing with users. Platform utilities would not be allowed to transfer or share data with third parties.

这些公司将被禁止同时拥有平台公用事业和平台上的任何参与者。平台公用事业需遵守公平、合理和非歧视性原则与用户进行交易，并不得将数据转让或分享给第三方。

For smaller companies (those with annual global revenue of between $90 million and $25 billion), their platform utilities would be required to meet the same standard of fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory dealing with users, but would not be required to structurally separate from any participant on the platform.

对于较小的公司（全球年收入在9000万美元至250亿美元之间），其平台公用事业仍需遵守公平、合理和非歧视性原则与用户交易，但无需与平台上的任何参与者进行结构性分离。

To enforce these new requirements, federal regulators, State Attorneys General, or injured private parties would have the right to sue a platform utility to enjoin any conduct that violates these requirements, to disgorge any ill-gotten gains, and to be paid for losses and damages. A company found to violate these requirements would also have to pay a fine of 5 percent of annual revenue.

为了执行这些新要求，联邦监管机构、州检察长或受损害的私人当事方将有权起诉平台公用事业，以禁止任何违反这些要求的行为，追回不当得利，并要求赔偿损失和损害赔偿。违反这些要求的公司还将被处以年度收入5%的罚款。

Amazon Marketplace, Google’s ad exchange, and Google Search would be platform utilities under this law. Therefore, Amazon Marketplace and Basics, and Google’s ad exchange and businesses on the exchange would be split apart. Google Search would have to be spun off as well.

根据该法律，亚马逊市场（Amazon Marketplace）、谷歌广告交易所（Google’s ad exchange）以及谷歌搜索（Google Search）将被视为平台公用事业。因此，亚马逊市场与其自营品牌（Amazon Basics），谷歌广告交易所与其交易所上的业务将被拆分。谷歌搜索也将被拆分出来。

Second, my administration would appoint regulators committed to reversing illegal and anti-competitive tech mergers.

其次，我的政府将任命致力于扭转非法和反竞争科技行业并购的监管者。

Current antitrust laws empower federal regulators to break up mergers that reduce competition. I will appoint regulators who are committed to using existing tools to unwind anti-competitive mergers, including:

现有的反垄断法律赋予联邦监管机构权力，可以拆分减少竞争的并购交易。我将任命坚定运用现有工具来撤销反竞争并购的监管者，包括以下案例：

亚马逊：Whole Foods、Zappos
Facebook：WhatsApp、Instagram
谷歌：Waze、Nest、DoubleClick

Unwinding these mergers will promote healthy competition in the market — which will put pressure on big tech companies to be more responsive to user concerns, including about privacy.

撤销这些并购交易将有助于促进市场中的健康竞争，这将迫使大型科技公司更加关注用户的需求，包括隐私保护等关键问题。

Protecting the future of the internet 保护互联网的未来

So what would the Internet look like after all these reforms?

那么在所有这些改革之后，互联网会是什么样子？

Here’s what won’t change: You’ll still be able to go on Google and search like you do today. You’ll still be able to go on Amazon and find 30 different coffee machines that you can get delivered to your house in two days. You’ll still be able to go on Facebook and see how your old friend from school is doing.

以下是不会改变的：你仍然可以像今天一样在谷歌上搜索。你仍然可以在亚马逊上找到 30 种不同的咖啡机，并在两天内送到你家。你仍然可以在 Facebook 上查看你学校的老朋友过得怎么样。

Here’s what will change: Small businesses would have a fair shot to sell their products on Amazon without the fear of Amazon pushing them out of business. Google couldn’t smother competitors by demoting their products on Google Search. Facebook would face real pressure from Instagram and WhatsApp to improve the user experience and protect our privacy. Tech entrepreneurs would have a fighting chance to compete against the tech giants.

以下是将要改变的内容：小企业将有公平的机会在亚马逊上销售他们的产品，而不必担心被亚马逊挤出市场。谷歌不能通过在谷歌搜索中降低竞争对手产品的排名来压制竞争对手。Facebook 将面临来自 Instagram 和 WhatsApp 的真正压力，以改善用户体验并保护我们的隐私。科技企业家将有机会与科技巨头竞争。

Of course, my proposals today won’t solve every problem we have with our big tech companies.

当然，我今天的提议不会解决我们与大型科技公司之间的所有问题。

We must give people more control over how their personal information is collected, shared, and sold — and do it in a way that doesn’t lock in massive competitive advantages for the companies that already have a ton of our data.

我们必须让人们对其个人信息的收集、共享和出售有更多的控制权——并且以一种不会为已经拥有大量我们数据的公司锁定巨大竞争优势的方式来实现这一点。

We must help America’s content creators — from local newspapers and national magazines to comedians and musicians — keep more of the value their content generates, rather than seeing it scooped up by companies like Google and Facebook.

我们必须帮助美国的内容创作者——从地方报纸和全国性杂志到喜剧演员和音乐家——保留更多他们内容所产生的价值，而不是被像谷歌和脸书这样的公司攫取。

And we must ensure that Russia — or any other foreign power — can’t use Facebook or any other form of social media to influence our elections.

我们必须确保俄罗斯或任何其他外国势力不能利用 Facebook 或任何其他形式的社交媒体来影响我们的选举。

Those are each tough problems, but the benefit of taking these steps to promote competition is that it allows us to make some progress on each of these important issues too. More competition means more options for consumers and content creators, and more pressure on companies like Facebook to address the glaring problems with their businesses.

这些都是棘手的问题，但采取这些步骤来促进竞争的好处在于，它也让我们在每个重要问题上取得一些进展。更多的竞争意味着消费者和内容创作者有更多的选择，并对像 Facebook 这样的公司施加更大的压力，以解决其业务中的明显问题。

Healthy competition can solve a lot of problems. The steps I’m proposing today will allow existing big tech companies to keep offering customer-friendly services, while promoting competition, stimulating innovation in the tech sector, and ensuring that America continues to lead the world in producing cutting-edge tech companies. It’s how we protect the future of the Internet.

健康的竞争可以解决很多问题。我今天提出的步骤将允许现有的大型科技公司继续提供以客户为导向的服务，同时促进竞争，激励科技行业的创新，并确保美国继续在生产尖端科技公司方面引领世界。这就是我们保护互联网未来的方式。

We can get this done. We can make big, structural change. But it’s going to take a grassroots movement, and it starts right now. Sign our petition if you agree, and let’s get ready to fight hard together.

我们可以完成这项工作。我们可以进行重大、结构性的变革。但这需要一场草根运动，并且从现在开始。如果你同意，请签署我们的请愿书，让我们一起准备好奋力拼搏。

2019-03-08 Elizabeth Warren.Here’s how we can break up Big Tech

2019-03-08 Elizabeth Warren.Here’s how we can break up Big Tech

How the new tech monopolies hurt small businesses and innovation 新技术垄断如何损害小企业和创新

Restoring competition in the tech sector 恢复科技行业的竞争

Protecting the future of the internet 保护互联网的未来

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