Facebook Antitrust Investigation

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/06/tech/facebook-antitrust-investigation/index.html 

Throughout the history of the United States, the people of this country have developed multiple platforms of social media in order to communicate with each other and keep updated on people's lives. These social media platforms have the intention of building a strong communities of people, so one can chat with and learn information about their peers. Of the many popular platforms that exist in this generation, Facebook is especially known for building a strong bond with one's community because you are able to post statuses, pictures, updates, questions, or just about anything you want. Friends can like or comment on posts, chat individually, and learn more about the people they are friends with on Facebook. Except Facebook does more than just bring people together, Facebook makes a profit off of selling its user's information to other companies that will then use your interests and hobbies to advertise products they predict you will buy. Users of Facebook have become aware of this, and more hesitant to continue posting on the site. In an article written by Brian Fung for CNN Business, Fung reports that the attorney's general of the District of Colombia and eight of states including Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio. and Tennessee, have launched an antitrust investigation into Facebook to determine if Facebook’s actions may have endangered consumer data, reduced the quality of consumers’ choices, or increased the price of advertising” (Fung).  Fung also mentions that Google will also be under investigation as users have noticed when they search something into Google, an advertisement related to that search will often appear on another site, sometimes within minutes of their search. This investigation is being run to discover if Facebook and Google are using this information for the good of the people. or if the people could be harmed by the selling of their information. It surprises me that one would even think of selling somebody's search history, posts, etc., online, let alone everybody's information to multiple different platforms.