[shangrila]

The flipside of that of course is that they can pass whatever draconian regulations they want in regards to the internet, so long as Facebook gets a free pass and is allowed to keep chugging along. Surprised they didn't do that already for things like SOPA.

[cookiecaper]

Facebook would in practice get a free pass on things like SOPA. AFAIK SOPA left discretion up to whatever agency would have been charged with enforcement (likely ICE or SS), so reports asking for the removal of Facebook would, of course, never be allowed, but reports on any/all of FB's competitors would go through.

That is one of the reasons lobbying is such an important game for conglomerates. Once you're on top, regulation is your friend; it's much cheaper to hire paper-pushers to fill out forms and submit them to the feds than it is to actively respond to and dismantle competitors. If only MySpace had gotten something like this in place a little sooner, FB would have been destroyed and MS would still be on top.