One of the truths about the word we live in today that many people are unfamiliar with has to do with the various ways in which tech monopolies are governing our everyday lives. If you stay up to date with the countless changes that occur in the world of tech, you would probably know that there are four or five tech companies in this world, and that these big players own a lot of services that you might decide to end up using on a regular basis.
A recent survey has shown that only 12% of respondents knew that Amazon owned the immensely popular video game streaming platform known as Twitch. This is pretty surprising when you think about the various ways in which people tend to use Twitch on a daily basis. However, Twitch is a pretty specific example, and since it is not exactly a service that is used by the majority of the people in the world it would be understandable if people don’t really know all that much about it.
However, there are other facts that would be pretty shocking for people not to know. For example, only about 47% of respondents to the survey knew that Google owned YouTube, even though it was one of the biggest acquisitions that have ever occurred in the world of technology. Facebook’s growing monopoly is also pretty under the radar, with only 38% of people that responded to the survey being aware of the fact that the social media platform owned Instagram and only 29% aware of the fact that Facebook owned WhatsApp.
Facebook is now incorporating a lot of its own branding into WhatsApp and Instagram so these numbers might increase, but Google and Amazon don’t look like they’re going to be publicizing their ownership anytime soon, with Google mostly treating it as a matter of fact.
It is important that the general public be educate about the monopolies that are currently in place so that they can make the right kinds of decision based on their knowledge of how few companies there are that control the world of tech.
Read next: Study: 1 in 3 business owners have no idea that Google determines search rankings [infographics]
A recent survey has shown that only 12% of respondents knew that Amazon owned the immensely popular video game streaming platform known as Twitch. This is pretty surprising when you think about the various ways in which people tend to use Twitch on a daily basis. However, Twitch is a pretty specific example, and since it is not exactly a service that is used by the majority of the people in the world it would be understandable if people don’t really know all that much about it.
However, there are other facts that would be pretty shocking for people not to know. For example, only about 47% of respondents to the survey knew that Google owned YouTube, even though it was one of the biggest acquisitions that have ever occurred in the world of technology. Facebook’s growing monopoly is also pretty under the radar, with only 38% of people that responded to the survey being aware of the fact that the social media platform owned Instagram and only 29% aware of the fact that Facebook owned WhatsApp.
Facebook is now incorporating a lot of its own branding into WhatsApp and Instagram so these numbers might increase, but Google and Amazon don’t look like they’re going to be publicizing their ownership anytime soon, with Google mostly treating it as a matter of fact.
It is important that the general public be educate about the monopolies that are currently in place so that they can make the right kinds of decision based on their knowledge of how few companies there are that control the world of tech.
Read next: Study: 1 in 3 business owners have no idea that Google determines search rankings [infographics]
