- Want to hear a joke?
- We all love iMessage.
We can continue our conversation seamlessly
from device to device.
But then we have these green bubble friends.
(audience laughs)
You know, they have inferior devices,
and they insist on sending us messages
and we don't want to hold it against them,
but the problem is
that those messages don't show up
on our other devices.
- That was Craig Federighi
at a recent Apple launch event.
And do you know what the problem is
with what he just said?
Apple actually has a stranglehold on our devices
and they're keeping us from communicating with our friends.
What if I told you there was no reason
other than Apple's desire to have a monopoly
that you and your friends with Android
just can't communicate?
Blue bubbles versus green bubbles,
it's just one of the most obvious places
where giant companies like Apple,
literally one of the biggest companies
that has ever existed;
it's worth over $2.8 trillion.
They want to keep it that way
by degrading your experience and my experience,
but it doesn't have to be that way.
You don't have to be trapped
inside of Apple's walled garden.
A pair of new bills are hitting the U.S. Congress
that you need to know about
and we're going to need your help to get them passed,
so let's get into it.
(upbeat music)
(relaxing electronic music)
Cory Doctorow says,
"Self-determination isn't about superficial desire
"for a different shade of blue
"or about moving your desktop menu icon
"from the top right corner to the bottom left.
"It's about you, and not a corporate exec,
"having the final say over how you live your life."
Is it possible to be a technological optimist
but still not want Apple, Google, and Facebook
and all the other large tech giants to control everything?
Yeah, because for me, working at these places
stifles innovation by default.
I worked at Microsoft as a PM
when I first graduated from college,
but the budgets, decisions, and outcomes
were not driven by me in my tiny PM spec
down at the bottom of the totem pole.
It was actually the top-down, centralized fiefdom
of 12 layers between me and the CEO.
Paul Graham says,
"You can adjust the amount of freedom you get
"by scaling the size of the company you work for."
"If you start the company, you'll have the most freedom.
"If you become one of the first 10 employees,
"have almost as much freedom as the founders.
"Even a company with 100 people
"will feel different from one with 1000."
I've seen it all,
from Microsoft to the early startups I worked at,
like being employee number 10 at Palantir,
and then starting my own startups.
I can tell you this much, freedom ain't free.
It turns out,
helping to create more companies with fewer employees
is one of the most direct ways
we can choose a society that has more freedom
with the added extreme benefit
of a lot more competition
that satisfies users and customers.
The bigger the startup ecosystem,
the better it is for everyone involved.
Wouldn't we rather have dozens of vibrant tech companies,
all making awesome things, than just a few mega giants
that don't give enough agency to their workers?
We're proud investors in a chat messaging app called Beeper.
It's a startup that's driving attention
to a lot of these issues in Congress right now.
Here's Beeper co-founder Eric Migicovsky.
- The reason why little innovation happens in chat
is because of lock-in network effects.
Over 3 billion people use chat every day
but, on most major chat apps,
you can only chat with people who are on the same app.
Most users do not use these apps
because of specific features.
They use them because their friends are on the app.
This lock-in network effect
prevents new competitors with innovative ideas
from getting off the ground.
- Like Doctorow said,
we don't want our day-to-day
controlled by the whims and needs
of corporate executives.
(ethereal music)
So we, as users, don't want Big Tech to have this much power
but why does Apple fight so hard to retain those monopolies?
Why do Google and Facebook do the same?
They're designed to, in a lot of ways.
Remember Craig's quip, right on stage,
at the beginning of this video?
Here's a snippet from the recent Epic MegaGames filing
that cited a deposition where Craig literally explained
why they wouldn't bring iMessage to Android.
Craig's coworker, Eddy Cue,
wanted to bring it over earlier, but Craig's reply?
"iMessage would remove an obstacle to iPhone families
"giving their kids Android phones."
It's about money.
It's about lock in.
It's about their moat.
Now does it make sense
for one of the biggest companies on the planet
to engage in that kind of anti-competitive behavior
that makes the lives of all of us quite a bit worse?
For me, I know that answer is no
and that's where smart government
can and should play a role
and that's what we're pushing for today.
(mysterious music)
We need your help.
Here's the root of the problem.
Due to so-called, gatekeeper status,
the biggest technology companies today,
think Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google,
they can use manipulative tactics
like the green versus blue bubbles,
to steer users away from rival services
and, in some cases, kill competition.
Here's Senator Amy Klobuchar
during a recent hearing on that antitrust legislation.
- We also have to remember
that innovation is all about competition
and bringing in new players to innovate,
that if we just simply have monopolies,
over time, we do not get the innovations that we need.
- Too often, Little Tech or the early stage startups
that we like to fund here at Initialized
are dependent on these platforms to reach extra customers
because these tech giants make it extra complicated
for users to do simple tasks, like uninstalling an app.
Here's Beeper co-founder Eric Migicovsky again.
- Big Tech companies also stifle users freedom
by making it practically impossible to switch networks.
For example, when WhatsApp changed
its privacy policy earlier this year,
many people tried to leave the platform
but it's very difficult to move group chats
and chat history from WhatsApp, so most people stayed put.
- If you don't want Little Tech
to forever be at the mercy of tech giants,
there are a few bills going through Congress right now
that you need to know about.
First is the Open App Markets Act,
which allows third-party app stores
to reduce that gatekeeper power.
This bill was introduced by U.S. senators Blumenthal,
Blackburn and Klobuchar last year
to bring more competition to the app store market.
And just last week,
Biden's Department of Justice came out in big support.
The bill targets in=-app payment systems
for companies that own app stores
with more than 50 million users in the U.S.,
and because there aren't that many of those app stores,
you know, that sounds like a monopoly to me, honestly.
Second, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act,
also referred to as the Non-Discrimination Bill,
prevents the biggest tech companies
from giving preference to their own products
over rival products on platforms they control.
The Senate's Judiciary Panel
approved this bill back in January in a bipartisan vote,
as well as similar legislation
is moving through the House right now.
Of course, Big Tech doesn't like this.
They're saying it's going to make it harder for them
to offer popular services.
Apple, in particular, has said several times
that allowing third-party app stores
would make iOS less secure.
Tim Cook of Apple, when fighting with Epic,
recently said, "At the heart of the Epic complaint
"is that they'd like developers
"to each put their own payment information
"but that would make the App Store a flea market,
"and you know the confidence level
"you have at a flea market."
Well, that's what they say,
but to me, that's clearly a false equivalence.
You, right now, can just go to Safari, the web browser,
and just buy anything.
The Apple position is absurd,
because it's not about consumer safety
but really about protecting Apple's profits.
So what are we supposed to do?
If you live in America,
I need you to let your representatives know
we mean business.
We believe startup innovation drives the economy forward
and the key to preserving that innovation
is to make sure that small tech,
Little Tech, the entrepreneur,
actually has a fighting chance against those giants.
We know that Big Tech isn't going to make room
for Little Tech without a fight.
Remember, Microsoft appealed
its prosecution in the late '90s for almost a decade.
They're not going to give up,
but we shouldn't give up either.
The fight has just begun and we fight
by building better and more innovative products.
We also fight by continually advocating
that our elected leaders are going to protect
a level playing field.
If you believe in Little Tech
and making space for entrepreneurship, like I do,
visit antitrustday.org, right now.
We need you to show your support for these two bills
and get plugged in, as we continue the fight
to make sure anyone can create a new app or a service
that a billion people can use,
not just the people who've already done it.
Tech is a big tent.
Anybody who wants to create an app for a billion people
should be able to create it
and this is about keeping it that way.
Thanks for watching all the way to the end
and I'll see you next week.
(relaxing electronic music)