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In scenario #2, Facebook wins. Google wins.

In my scenario #2 those companies are declared to be public utilities, then subsequently regulated as all public utilities are.

Can AT&T or Verizon cancel your phone account because they don't like your politics? No, they cannot.

How would that be winning for the big tech companies?

First, if they were made into utilities(Google, Instagram, etc) they would be unassailable monopolies sanctioned by government. You know, like that Tea company the King had that the Founders found to be so grotesque. Second, considering Zuckerberg's close relationship with all of the big wigs and powerbrokers on the left, he and his buddy Bezos would be the ones writing the rules. I can assure you he will not be writing rules against Facebook. He will be writing the rules against https://freerepublic.com.

Finally, Facebook and the rest would have less to worry about from litigation. All decisions about content would be offloaded to nameless faceless bureaucrats and federal law agents who you don't vote for and I don't vote for. No chance for malpractice there, right? Did you see what happened in regards to Hillary's email server? Whole lot of nothing, that's what.

That's three reasons why being declared a utility would be a huge win for Facebook. Any of them. All of them. The more regulation, the better. The bigger the better. Zuckerberg wants his server to be Hillary's email server too.

Ronald Reagan once said: "Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth"

If Facebook were turned into a utility it becomes an immortal government program. Friedrich Engels, who I quoted above, said(wrote) the exact same thing from the other side about eternal life that Reagan did.

Now I'd love to see you define the downside to immortality. No wonder Zuckerberg went to Congress to beg for it. Who wouldn't want eternal life, if they were in his situation?