The laws that regulate monopolies in the United States date back to the end of the XIX Century and to the early XX Century. They were instrumental in breaking up monopolies in railways, oil, tobacco and canned meat.

According to the prevailing interpretation of anti-trust laws in America, a monopoly exists only if companies band together to raise prices or to keep prices artificially high.

If we adopt this view of the world, it's hard to think about monopolies on the Internet.

How much does Google charge you to use their search engine? And for Gmail?

For Google Maps? And how much does Facebook cost? What about Instagram?

But isn't it harder to compete with the leader if they give away their services for free?

And what will happen once retailers that are forgoing margins, like Amazon, will have wiped away all their competitors? [1]

Lastly, isn't it a monopoly when two companies, Google and Facebook, own 77% of the online advertising market in the US and are responsible for 99% of the year over year increase in expenditure in said market? [2]

Isn't it time for regulators to step in? [3]