Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 567
May 7, 2022
Children | Informed Consent | Can a Child Answer These Questions?
Interdependencies
Parents continue to remain concerned about the increasing pressure to pass laws allowing children to make their own medical decisions when it comes to the topic of vaccination. To put the ‘bottom line upfront’ – specifically as it relates to the mRNA ‘vaccines’ – any decision that entails injecting a therapeutic, designed by the manufactures to force one’s body to create the synthetic S1 Spike protein, is complex and the technology used to do so is even more complex. The results, both known and unknown, in terms of a risk/benefit calculus, are not readily understood by a child.
In a newsletter from Physicians for Informed Consent an educational nonprofit organization focused on science and statistics, you can find an opposition letter to California Senate Bill 866 (SB 866). Their newsletter and call to action along with the following list of questions in this article should be considered as the interdependencies between the issues – can a child answer these questions – and the impact of these bills if passed — are important factors. Lets look at some of the issues.
A look at some of the terms – Vaccine or Information TherapyDoes a child understand that the medical intervention they are being told is just a ‘vaccine’ – understand how the term is being used? Would they know that the manufactures use the term ‘vaccines’ and other terms such as ‘information therapy’ and ‘gene therapy technologies’ – as if they are synonymous with the mRNA COVID-19 ‘vaccines’ countermeasures or injections? They are not.
Children would likely not understand the nuanced differences. In short, calling an mRNA COVID-19 injection a vaccine omits a critical detail – namely – that these information therapies are coding our cells to produce – specifically, to use a technology, designed in a lab, that codes our cells to produce a synthetic S1 Spike Protein.
Of note, for the current COVID mRNA injections in question, the manufactures documented that they are designed to ‘cause disease’ in the body, first – as in these products act like code [information therapy] telling the body to develop the S1 spike protein which is – again – by the manufacture’s definition – the ‘pathogen’. For additional reference, per European standards, it is clear that – the mRNA ‘vaccine’ is a genetic set of instructions that forces the body to produce S1 Spike, which ‘…causes disease…’ (reference below):
[…]
Of grave concern, would a child be following the rapid changes and opinions about the safety of repeated injections to include the boosters? Would a child be able to follow – and understand – the most recent data dump from Pfizer and determine risk without a parent’s input? Just one example of the latest here: Pfizer dump .
Would a child know that as recently as January 11, 2022 the European Medicines Agency reversed course and acknowledged that ‘…repeated boosters could weaken the immune system…?” (See Repeat Booster Shots Risk Overloading Immune System) Would a child understand any of this data and understand that they could be making a permanent decision that they cannot undo?
[…]
What Can Children Understand | Some Questions[…]
(1) Do young children (an eleven-year-old) have the critical thinking skills needed to understand the concepts of informed consent or pharmaceutical developer’s indemnification protections when making a decision on their own, without a parent or guardian, about taking a vaccine?
(2) Do they know about, and are they privy to the safety claims as they are reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), or the federally mandated use of the early warning system VAERS, or other health agency?
(3) Are children able to understand that a vaccine may not have been tested for its mutagenicity, carcinogenicity or reactogenic properties? Would they even understand what these three words mean?
(4) Does an eleven-year-old understand or comprehend the risks to themselves from the disease that a vaccine purports to confer ‘immunity’? How does an eleven-year-old define ‘immunity’?
(5) Does an eleven-year-old understand any stated risks of possible adverse events from a vaccine that would be listed on a vaccine insert, both known and unknown. Are their statistical analysis skills able to discern the difference between the Relative Risk Reduction (RRR) and the Absolute Risk Reduction (ARR) used in the mRNA clinical trials and would they know how to use these metrics to determine personal risk?
(6) In the case of a clinical trial, where no safety studies have yet to be completed, does a child know the meaning of, or have an understanding of the term post marketing surveillance?
(7) Will there be situations whereby many children would not understand any of the terms already cited in combination with concepts of a manufactures ‘indemnification’ protections?
(8) Is it reasonable to assume that a child would be able to research and understand, on their own, that the CDC reported that with regard to the Sars-CoV-2 virus – “most children have mild symptoms or have no symptoms at all?” https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/children/symptoms.html
(9) Would a child as young as eleven understand that such decisions would violate their parent’s substantive due process rights to make medical decisions for their children?
(10) In the case of the Washington, D.C Bill B23-0171, https://lims.dccouncil.us/Legislation/B23-0171 physicians across the United States are raising serious concerns. Would a child understand their concerns and/or the details of Bill B23-0171 that would require insurance companies, vaccine providers and schools to conceal, from the parent, the fact that the child has been vaccinated. Recall, this bill stipulates those doctors would need to provide an insurance bill directly to the child’s school, without the parent’s knowledge if the child’s parent has a religious exemption on file. Of significant concern, if the child develops potential side effects, has a severe adverse reaction and parents seek medical care for their child; the evaluating physician may not get the necessary information needed to recognize a reaction. This puts physicians at risk of not being able to practice, using all the available medical history they need. This bill adversely impacts the duties and responsibilities of physicians and presents grave ethical questions for physicians, parents and legislators alike.
Via https://interdependencies.substack.com/p/children-informed-consent-can-a-child
Most Vaccinated with Upper Incomes Have Had the Most Covid Deaths
Karma?
Global
Income Level Comparison
Data: Our World In Data pic.twitter.com/KrY0tmZRds
— Lindsay Kate (@TexasLindsay) May 5, 2022
Mesopotamia: Rise of the Neo-Babylonian Empire
Episode 23: The Assyrian Empire, Warfare and Collapse
Ancient Mesopotamia: Life in the Cradle of Civilization
Dr Amanda H Podany
Film Review
This lecture manly covers the rise of the Neo-Babylonian Empire after the fall of Assyria. In fact, Babylonia would expand to encompass most of former Assyria, except for the western regions. With the support of Egypt, the western city-states (in the Levant) resisted Babylonian occupation.
Podany gives the specific example of Judah, which was invaded by the Babylonian king/general in 587 BC for refusing to pay tribute to Babylonia. After capturing large numbers of Jewish prisoners and deporting them to Babylonia, king Nebuchadnezzar II put a pro-Babylonian king in charge of Judah, but he rebelled as well.
This resulted in the 587 BC Siege of Jerusalem and capture and deportation of yet more Jewish captives.
Although as a king/general he led many battles, Nebuchadnezzar II prided himself much more on the building programs he carried out in the city of Babylon, which was the biggest city in the region until Rome was built several centuries later.
The buildings he commissioned included a temple consisting of a seven-level high ziggurat and a massive palace housing numerous offices and workshops and apartments, as well as the king’s residence and throne room. Unlike other kings, the Neo-Babylonian king covered the walls with vibrantly colorful motifs instead of victorious battles. He also surrounded the city with a wall wide enough to drive a chariot on it.
Although clay tablets from Nebuchadnezzar II’s empire include many references to foreign captives (some of whom became quite wealthy) who came to live in Babylonia, very few of them were slaves.
*After King Solomon’s death in 930 BC, Israel split into two kingdoms, a southern kingdom called Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel. The latter was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian empire in 722 BC. Judah remained independent until 586 BC, when it was conquered by the Neo-Babylonian empire.
Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.
https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/video/5754238/5754282
May 6, 2022
Senator Johnson Demands CDC Explain Why It Tracked Movements Of Americans During Pandemic
(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)By
Mary Margaret Olohan
Daily WireWASHINGTON — Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson is calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to address why it tracked Americans throughout the coronavirus pandemic — and what other departments may have tracked the movements of United States citizens as well.
“It remains unclear why the CDC tracked millions of Americans during the pandemic and whether it continues to do so,” Johnson told the CDC in a Thursday letter first obtained by The Daily Wire. “In response to COVID-19, the CDC should have been prioritizing the development of treatments, effective testing, and vaccine safety rather than tracking Americans’ daily lives.”
Johnson called on the CDC to explain if its use of location data was “the only mechanism it employed to monitor Americans during the pandemic,” which official or officials at the CDC approved the “use and subsequent purchase of location data,” what companies supplied the CDC with this data, and whether the CDC shared this location data with any other federal, state, or local agencies.
“If so, provide what entities received the data and explain why,” Johnson told the CDC.
The senator’s letter builds off internal documents from the CDC obtained by Vice showing that the department used the data of millions of Americans to track their compliance with government coronavirus restrictions.
This included tracking people who visited grade schools and high schools, specifically the Navajo Nation, places of worship, and more, the publication reported.
“A recent report revealed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) spent at least $420,000 to purchase location data from ‘at least 20 million active cellphone users per day’ in an effort to assist the agency in monitoring Americans during the pandemic,” Johnson wrote in his letter to the CDC.
“According to that report, the CDC obtained location data from at least one company, SafeGraph, to examine activities in schools, places of worship, parks, grocery stores, and public transit stations, among others,” he continued. “CDC reportedly wrote in a document, ‘the mobility data obtained in this contract will be available for CDC agency-wide use and will support numerous CDC priorities.’”
Location data is sourced from an individual’s phone and shows where the device’s location is, revealing where the person goes during their day, as well as where they live and where they work. The CDC bought aggregated data, Vice reported, which means that the data was intended to follow trends of groups of people.
But researchers have warned that this type of data can also be used to track individuals, according to Vice.
[…]
Exclusive: Pilots Injured by COVID Vaccines Speak Out: ‘I Will Probably Never Fly Again’
In interviews with The Defender, pilots injured by COVID-19 vaccines said despite a “culture of fear and intimidation” they are compelled to speak out against vaccine mandates that rob pilots of their careers — and in some cases their lives.
As a commercial pilot, Bob Snow had long looked forward to seeing his daughter follow in his footsteps by helping her learn to fly an airplane.However, having received the COVID-19 vaccine “under duress,” this dream is no longer a possibility for Snow.
“I will probably never fly again,” Snow said in a video he made about his story. “I was hoping to teach my daughter to fly. She wants to be a pilot. That will probably never happen, all courtesy of the vaccine.”
Snow is one of a growing number of pilots coming forward to share stories of injuries they experienced after getting a COVID-19 vaccine.
Some of these accounts are “hair-raising and deeply disturbing,” according to Maureen Steele, a paralegal and head of media relations for the John Pierce Law Firm.
The firm represents U.S. Freedom Flyers (USFF), an organization opposing vaccine and mask mandates for pilots and airline staff, in a series of legal actions against the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and several airlines.
Josh Yoder, a pilot with a major commercial airline, Army combat veteran and former flight medic, is a co-founder of USFF.
In a recent interview with The Defender, Yoder said the FAA has been aware of cases of pilots suffering vaccine injuries since at least December 2021, when the California-based Advocates for Citizens’ Rights hand-delivered an open letter to the FAA, major airlines and their insurers.
Yoder said USFF “has received hundreds of phone calls from airline employees who are experiencing adverse reactions post COVID-19 vaccination,” describing the stories as “heartbreaking.”
According to Yoder, the warnings contained in the letter, including testimony by “world-renowned experts,” were “completely ignored,” adding that “we are now beginning to see the consequences.”
This is leading an increasing number of pilots to “come forward to expose the truth regarding these toxic injections,” Yoder said.
The Defender recently reported on a series of reports that have been submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, involving pilots who sustained severe injuries and side effects following the COVID-19 vaccine.
Congressional testimony from Cody Flint, an agricultural pilot who has logged more than 10,000 flight hours, was included in this letter.
“The FAA has created a powder keg and lit the fuse,” Flint said in an interview with The Defender.
“We are now seeing pilots experiencing blood clots, myocarditis, pericarditis, dizziness and confusion at rates never seen before. Pilots are losing their careers and having to call in sick or go on medical leave from medical issues developing almost immediately after vaccination.”
Vaccine-injured pilots share stories with The DefenderSeveral pilots, including Bob Snow, shared their stories with The Defender in a recent series of interviews.
Snow, a captain with a major U.S. airline, told The Defender he received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine on Nov. 4, 2021, “as a result of an unambivalent company mandate to receive the vaccine or be terminated.”
According to Snow, he “began experiencing issues a little over two months” after receiving the vaccine. Due to a history of gastroenteritis, he underwent an endoscopy and an abdominal CT scan.
The results of the endoscopy were normal and Snow was awaiting the results of the CT scan when he suffered cardiac arrest on April 9, immediately after landing at Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport.
As Snow described it:“I was very lucky to have collapsed when and where I did, as the aircraft was shut down at the gate post-flight and care was immediately provided.
“There was absolutely no warning preceding my collapse in the cockpit. It was literally as if someone ‘pulled the plug.’”
After receiving CPR and AED (automated external defibrillator) shocks to be revived, Snow spent almost a week in the hospital, where he was diagnosed with having sustained sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).
Medical studies indicate survival rates for out-of-hospital SCA cases are estimated at 10.8% to 11.4%.
Snow said:
“Needless to say, that’s not an encouraging number and I feel very, very lucky to have survived.
“Had this happened in a hotel, in flight, at home or almost anywhere else, I do not believe I would be here right now.”
Snow said prior to this incident, he had “no history of prior significant cardiac issues,” based on two EKGs (electrocardiograms) per year for each of the previous 10 years — none of which, according to Snow, “provided any indication of incipient issues that might lead to cardiac arrest.”
“I have no known family history to indicate a predisposition to developing significant cardiac issues at this point in my life,” Snow added.
Snow has been recuperating at home since April 15, while awaiting more tests that will provide a prognosis for his long-term survival.
However, it is likely that he will never fly again in any capacity.
Snow said, “[f]or now, it appears my flying career — indeed, likely all flying as a pilot — has come to a rapid and unexpected conclusion as SCA is a red flag to FAA medical certification.”
This, according to Snow, has resulted “in a significant loss of income and lifestyle,” adding that he has a college student and high school student at home and a non-working spouse who relied on his livelihood.
Via https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/pilots-injured-covid-vaccines-speak/
The Global White Helmet Franchise
By Vanessa Beeley
In my section I expose the proxy war in Ukraine linking to a White Helmet project mirrored in Lebanon and Yemen by MI6 outreach agents
In the 4th May 2022 edition of UK Column News I present evidence of the expanding White Helmet franchise in Ukraine, Yemen and Lebanon brought to fruition by the same British Intelligence-linked agency that established this pseudo Humanitarian organisation in Syria in 2013:
Via https://beeley.substack.com/p/uk-column-news-the-global-white-helmet
Return to the Good Old Days of Ignoring CDC Recommendations
It has been two weeks since a United States district court struck down President Joe Biden’s mandate, imposed through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that people wear masks when traveling via public transportation, or by taxi or ride-share service, as well as when at related locations, such as airports. After the court decision, most transportation companies and locations have been quick to make clear that people are free to leave their faces uncovered. Many people have been very happy to do just that.
The CDC, however, has not given up on hectoring people to “wear your mask.” On Tuesday, the CDC released a “media statement” titled “CDC Recommendation for Masks and Travel.” Starting off, the media statement declares that the CDC “recommends that everyone aged 2 and older – including passengers and workers – properly wear a well-fitting mask or respirator over the nose and mouth in indoor areas of public transportation (such as airplanes, trains, etc.) and transportation hubs (such as airports, stations, etc.).” Further, the CDC states that it encourages “operators of public transportation and transportation hubs to support mask wearing by all people, including employees.”
Fortunately, the response of many individuals and businesses to this advice ranges from “whatever” to “leave me alone.” More and more people have gotten over inflated fear of coronavirus that never posed a threat of major sickness or death to most people. People have also progressively become aware of the absurdity and destructiveness of forced business closures, “social distancing,” ubiquitous coronavirus testing, experimental coronavirus “vaccines,” mask mandates, and other pseudoscience actions the CDC has pushed since 2020.
America is largely back to the good old days of most people ignoring for the most part when government “public health officials” and people in the media relate CDC guidance that people do this or that. Plus, given the horrid track record of the CDC through the coronavirus scare, more people are now aware of the charade of CDC guidance than ever before. Instead of just ignoring CDC recommendations, many more people than before will feel the urge to research the recommendations and publicly challenge the recommendations when they are found wanting. There should now hopefully also be much more steadfast resistance from the start to any new effort to morph recommendations from the CDC or other so-called health experts into mandates.
Still, the CDC’s media statement this week and the US government hanging on to other coronavirus crackdown measures, including coronavirus shots and testing mandates, to the extent the measures have not been struck down by courts, show that the threat of grand scale tyranny in the name of countering a new purported health crisis remains. In addition, some state and local governments are both holding on to the remnants of coronavirus tyranny and remaining ready to jump back into much more expansive action suppressing freedom in the name of public health.
[…]
Via https://alethonews.com/2022/05/05/the-return-to-the-good-old-days-of-ignoring-cdc-recommendations/
Canadian General Arrested in Mariupol May 1st
The arrest of Canadian general Trevor John Cadieu on May 1 by Russian troops while trying to escape from Azovstal in Mariupol can serve as a piece of evidence that official evidence of the “collective West” has unleashed a war against Russia in Ukraine. Seven months ago he was considered a prime candidate for the position of the Canadian Army commander and had already become “famous” for a sex scandal among his fellow officers.
It is alleged that it was for the “evacuation” of the Canadian general that the Kiev authorities and the West came up with the whole idea of humanitarian corridors for civilians from Azovstal, involving French President Macron and his Turkish counterpart Erdogan, as well as the UN Secretary-General. The idea was that under the guise of “refugees” he, with a number of other senior NATO officials remaining there, could leave the Russian-controlled war zone in Donbass and avoid not only shameful captivity, but also a show trial by Moscow. It is noticeable that, according to reports circulating, General Cadieu was in charge of Azovstal’s underground bunkers, including biological laboratory No. 1, where 18 people worked with deadly viruses.
He will therefore clearly have something to tell not only to the investigators in Moscow, but also at the open trial, where, by analogy with the Nuremberg Trials, there will certainly be strong charges brought against the US and its Western cronies for unleashing war in Ukraine, strengthening and protecting Nazi criminals in that country for this purpose, creating biological weapons in US secret laboratories in Ukraine, testing them on Ukrainian citizens in violation of all rules of international law.
Although, of course, these facts are no secret to anyone today. After all, the US claims to be a “democracy” for no reason, having long ago transformed itself from a republican to an imperial power, as the US media openly point out today. Americans have already paid dearly for this, but an even heavier moral reckoning lies ahead. After all, Biden and his administration are doing what they please in Ukraine, not only blatantly boosting the wealth of their families at Ukraine’s expense, but also plundering the country, burdening it with US and international financial debts that will take decades to be paid off by the Ukrainian people. US officials are increasingly determined to cast aside international doubts about US direct involvement in the military conflict with Russia, they are expanding the supply of lethal weapons to the current Kiev authorities, and are doing so without hiding.
Two weeks after the conflict had begun, President Joe Biden assured that “a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia is World War III. And something we must strive to prevent.”
But he seems to have lied to everyone once again. In particular, the US President has repeatedly spoken out in favor of regime change in Russia. Now Pentagon chief Austin, no longer even trying to hide behind an emotional outburst, is bluntly stating that the administration’s aim is to “weaken” Russia. Isn’t this an actual declaration of Moscow as an enemy and the beginning of war against it? And a direct reason for Russia to retaliate?
Americans trained in combat, along with thousands of other foreigners, are taking part in hostilities in Ukraine on Kiev’s side, Politico reported. In particular, Task Force Yankee, led by American Harrison Josephowitz, is operating in Ukraine. The US is training soldiers from Ukraine in Germany to further fight Russia, German TV channel Das Erste reported. A militant resolution on the use of US forces in Ukraine has already been drafted by Republican member of the House of Representatives Adam Kinzinger.
Radio-Canada, citing documents and photos, reported in late April that Canada in Ukraine was training members of the Nazi Azov regiment (whose fighters are under criminal investigation in Russia) in military operations against Russia. However, probably “out of modesty” they did not name the role of the Canadian general Trevor Cadieu taken prisoner in such direct involvement of his country in the armed confrontation with Russia, but he will tell everything himself now…
The French Le Figaro and many other Western media outlets report on NATO’s involvement in the fighting against Russian forces in Ukraine. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg publicly boasted on April 28 that the alliance countries had already provided or promised to provide a total of $8 billion in military aid to Ukraine!
[…]
Nor would it be an obvious revelation from the Canadian general Trevor Cadieu taken prisoner to tell us why, under pressure from Kiev, the besieged militants were forbidden to have a dialogue about surrendering at Azovstal and ordered the nationalists of the Azov battalion to immediately shoot anyone willing to lay down arms. The secrets shrouding this industrial facility and the “skeletons in the closet” lurking in its underground shelters have already been revealed in an investigation by Palestinian journalist and writer Nabil Salem:
“All this is happening against the background of reports about the existence of a special room under the mill, which houses the secret headquarters of the North Atlantic Alliance with the number pit_40 for the production of biological weapons. In addition to a number of NATO officers, 240 foreign researchers of various nationalities – from the United States, Germany, Canada, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Sweden, Austria, Poland, Greece, as well as soldiers of the French Legion – are stationed there. It has emerged that this secret headquarters is run by the Metabiota company of Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, and his partner, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenski.”
[…]
Via https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/05/05/ukraine-what-can-the-imprisoned-canadian-general-tell/
Metropol Jubilee: Russian Debt Forgiveness in Ukraine
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. (Leviticus Chapter 25).
The Russian army captured Melitopol just 2 days into the war, on February 26. The capture was easy, because nobody was fighting back. The Russian military authorities appointed a local politician named Galina Danilchenko as the new acting Mayor. Danilchenko announced some very welcome news for the inhabitants of this great city: All of their debts for communal services (gas, water, electricity) are hereby nullified effective May 1, thus everybody gets to start with a clean slate.
According to Galina, once the new authorities took over, they started looking at the lists of bills, payments, and debts to the city. “The old tariffs were ghastly,” she said. “Tariff” is the word that Russians and Ukrainians use for these types of municipal bills which they receive in the mail as unwelcome visitors.
[…]
One can see that, in such a system, it is the government’s responsibility to provide these services; and the citizens’ responsibility to pay their bills on time. Unfortunately, even long before the war, many working-class Ukrainians found the charges prohibitively high; and prices were being raised all the time. In addition to the usual governmental corruption, the Ukrainian state became increasingly burdened by international debt, with the IMF cracking the whip and demanding more and more austerity on the part of ordinary Ukrainians. This is just to put into context the situation which Danilchenko found herself faced with, as the new city leader.
Galina: “If, before 2014, gas cost 74 kopecks per cube, then by the start of 2022, one cube cost 16 hryvna 47 kopecks.” [There are 100 kopecks in a hryvna. One hryvna is worth about 3 American cents. The average annual salary in the Ukraine is 896,251 hryvna, but the mean is only 205,886. This is just to put things in perspective. Galina’s point is that the constant price rises were extremely burdensome to the region’s consumers.] Galina adds that extra fees were sometimes tacked on: “The communal fees grew colossally, people went into debt. There were some subsidies offered at first, and then they started to cut the subsidies.” Ukrainians found themselves being squeezed more and more, and forced into intolerable levels of debt.
After the Russians took over, Galina worked with them to re-connect residents who had been disconnected for not paying their electricity bills: “Everybody got reconnected, and very quickly. Then we decided to recalculate the tariffs. During the first stage we can lower the heating bills by 30%. We still haven’t decided what is a fair price to pay for gas. But the other services we think we can also lower the price by 30%.”
And in the meantime, people are starting with a clean slate, thanks to the Jubilee.
[…]
Via https://awfulavalanche.wordpress.com/2022/05/05/ukraine-war-day-71-melitopol-jubilee/
May 5, 2022
New Bill Would Strip Big Tech of Ads Business
Photo: Mandel Ngan (Getty Images)By Shoshana WodinskyGizmodo
Coming in hot to a Senate floor near you: a bill targeting the super-lucrative ad networks of Google and Meta, the real cash cows.
This week, Bloomberg reported that a bipartisan group of lawmakers are inching closer to another big plan to break up big tech. But unlike grandiloquent calls for Meta to divest Instagram or for Google to divest Chrome, this new legislation would force both companies to divest the heart of their money-making machinery: their ads business.Citing two people familiar with the forthcoming bill, Bloomberg reports that the bill would bar any company with more than $20 billion in digital ad revenue from owning the tech needed to both buy ads and sell ads as well as the online marketplace where those transactions happen—digital vertical integration, in other words. For a company like Google, which does all three of those things, is valued at $1.6 trillion, and earns more than $20 billion in a single quarter, that would spell trouble. The bill’s impending appearance on the Senate floor was first leaked in January. Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee is reportedly spearheading the legislation.
That explanation might sound like a bit of word salad, but it’s not too complicated. In a brief nutshell: when a site like CNN dot com sells ad space to advertisers on the internet, it uses a bevvy of tiny tech tools to help those transactions happen—and the advertisers buying that space do the same. These players typically come head to head in what’s known as an ad exchange, where CNN’s tools announce the ad space is up for auction, and where advertisers use their tools to put in their bids. If Walmart’s tech wins the bid, then bam, you’re gonna see an ad for Walmart on your CNN story.
Right now, Facebook, Google and Amazon—the so-called “triopoly” in the digital ad world—rake in more than 60% of the dollars spent on digital ads every year, which topped $211 billion last year alone. They’re able to pull in this kind of cash, in part, because they own every side of the market that they’re in. Amazon’s platform is the most popular place where American people shop online; Google has the world’s most popular search engine; and Meta’s social networks are the most popular of their kind around the world. If an advertiser wants to reach any of these companies’ users, they need to use each companies’ proprietary platforms to do it—even if they don’t want to.
When advertisers are strongarmed into using these tools, it means the other side of the marketplace—the apps and sites with ad space up for sale—are being strongarmed, too. App developers are stuck using tools like Meta’s Audience Network to find someone willing to pay for their space, and websites are stuck using Google’s Doubleclick For Publishers. When accused of being monopolies in front of lawmakers before, these companies regularly point out that the online market is crowded and competitive. It is. A report from this week found close to 10,000 digital ad players operating in the US this year.
But that’s not the point; as long as they have massive user bases, they’re also going to have massive advertiser bases paying massive bucks. Smaller companies are obligated to use the big guy’s tech in order to make any money at all, forking over a chunk of their profits to said big guy for the privilege.
[…]
Via https://gizmodo.com/google-amazon-facebook-meta-ads-break-up-mike-lee-senat-1848880759
The Most Revolutionary Act
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