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The platforms have become so dominant because they benefit from “network effects”.
這些平臺之所以能夠稱霸，原因在于“網絡效應”。
Size begets size: the more sellers Amazon, say, can attract, the more buyers will shop there, which attracts more sellers, and so on.
比方說，亞馬遜上的賣家越多，就會吸引更多買家來購物，而這又能吸引更多的賣家。
By some estimates, Amazon captures over 40% of online shopping in America.
如此這般，雪球越滾越大。據估計，亞馬遜搶占了美國網購總額的40%以上。
With more than 2bn monthly users, Facebook holds sway over the media industry. Firms cannot do without Google, which in some countries processes more than 90% of web searches.
Facebook的月活躍用戶超過20億，掌控著媒體行業。企業離不開谷歌，在一些國家，90%以上的網絡搜索用的都是谷歌。
Facebook and Google control two-thirds of America’s online ad revenues.
Facebook和谷歌這兩家公司控制了美國在線廣告收入的三分之二。
America’s trustbusters have given tech giants the benefit of the doubt. They look for consumer harm, which is hard to establish when prices are falling and services are “free”.
美國的反壟斷機構對科技巨頭使用了無罪推定。它們要先找到消費者受害的證據，但在價格下降、服務“免費”的情況下很難做到。
The firms themselves stress that a giant-killing startup is just a click away and that they could be toppled by a new technology, such as the blockchain.
這些巨頭自己也強調，說不定點一下鼠標的工夫，擊垮巨頭的創業公司就出現了，而且它們還可能會被類似區塊鏈的新技術所顛覆。
Before Google and Facebook, Alta Vista and MySpace were the bee’s knees. Who remembers them?
谷歌和Facebook出現之前，Alta Vista和MySpace都是行業翹楚，如今誰還記得它們？
However, the barriers to entry are rising.
然而，行業門檻在不斷抬高。
Facebook not only owns the world’s largest pool of personal data, but also its biggest “social graph”—the list of its members and how they are connected.
Facebook不僅擁有世界上最豐富的個人數據，還有最大的“社交圖譜”——用戶名單以及用戶之間的聯系。
Amazon has more pricing information than any other firm.
亞馬遜掌握的定價信息比其他任何公司都多。
Voice assistants, such as Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant, will give them even more control over how people experience the internet.
亞馬遜的Alexa和谷歌的Assistant這些語音助手將能讓它們更好地控制人們的互聯網體驗。
China’s tech firms have the heft to compete, but are not about to get unfettered access to Western consumers.
中國的科技企業有競爭的實力，但還不能自由地服務西方的消費者。
If this trend runs its course, consumers will suffer as the tech industry becomes less vibrant. Less money will go into startups, most good ideas will be bought up by the titans and, one way or another, the profits will be captured by the giants.
如果任由這個趨勢發展，科技行業會變得缺乏活力，消費者利益也會因而受損。投向創業公司的資金會減少，大多數好的創意都將被巨頭買斷，而且，利潤總歸都會被巨頭收入囊中。
The early signs are already visible.
這種情況已初見端倪。
譯文來源考研英語時事閱讀
