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1 Lion’s share: In the US, Facebook and Google together account for 90-95% of the total advertising revenue. Reuters
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
Senior Journalist and Author
IN recent weeks, a series of attempts have been made by governments in different countries, notably Australia and the United States, to curb the overweening dominance of two of the biggest digital monopolies on the planet. Unlike many parts of the world where a consensus has emerged that the unrestrained dominance of Alphabet (the parent company of Google, YouTube and the Android operating system on mobile phones) and Facebook (including WhatsApp and Instagram) is terrible for humankind, the Indian government has chosen to go rather soft on these two giant conglomerates who have invested in this country’s biggest player in the telecommunications and Internet services market, Reliance Jio, headed by India’s and Asia’s richest person, who is also one of the world’s richest people.