Firing up a landmark legal clash between the U.S. government and the search and advertising Goliath, the U.S. Justice Department is expected to brief state attorneys general this week about its imminent plans to file an antitrust lawsuit against Google.
Tony Romm for The Washington Post:
The timeline puts federal competition watchdogs on track to file a case against Google potentially next week, capping off a wide-ranging inquiry into the tech giant and the extent to which its sprawling corporate footprint harms rivals and consumers…
State attorneys general, meanwhile, embarked on their own bipartisan probe last summer, an inquiry led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). That, too, has broadened considerably since Democratic and Republican state leaders announced their intentions from the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington. It remains unclear which states may ultimately join the Justice Department in any lawsuit it files in the coming days, or whether they could file their own additional complaints…
Adding to Google’s headaches, the White House is expected to host Republican attorneys general on Wednesday to discuss a controversial, decades-old federal law that spares social media platforms from being held liable for content posted by their users, according to the two people, who added that it is not clear whether any Democrats have been invited to that gathering.
The two people said President Trump is expected to join the meeting, which comes weeks after the Justice Department publicly called on Congress to adopt sweeping changes to the law, known as Section 230. Barr and the Justice Department endorsed the revisions partly because of claims that social media sites, including Google-owned YouTube, moderate content online in a way that censors conservative users and viewpoints.
MacDailyNews Take: Better late than never! Google is a massive problem that simply must be addressed. There is one “Big Tech” company that is really stifling competition and for which antitrust remedies are in order: Alphabet (Google).
When one search engine has 86% share of the worldwide market (and Google basically isn’t even used in China), there is far, far, far too much power concentrated in one company. The whole concept of the World Wide Web is destroyed when a sole gatekeeper basically controls what gets seen, read, and heard. It’s not open, it’s completely closed and controlled.
Publishers who want to be read, for example, spend an inordinate amount of time making sure they follow Google’s dictates, nebulously sussed from Google’s secret algorithm, formatting their sites, even writing their articles a certain way, including certain words they might not choose if allowed to write freely, simply to please Google’s algorithm.
If Google doesn’t like a site (imagine a site that believes Google’s Android is a stolen product and says so repeatedly), Google can hurt that site by, say, excluding that site from the News tab on Google (since 2009), so that the site is more difficult to find, hurting that site’s traffic and ability to generate revenue. (Is there a lawsuit there? Someday we might find out.)
Hopefully, lawmakers can come together to figure out a way to do something to remedy the horribly uncompetitive situation in internet search. Google is, and has been for years, a perfect example of why antitrust laws exist. — MacDailyNews, July 29, 2020
With this unprecedented power, platforms have the ability to redirect into their pockets the advertising dollars that once went to newspapers and magazines. No one company should have the power to pick and choose which content reaches consumers and which doesn’t. — MacDailyNews, November 9, 2017
Imagine if your livelihood depended on one company that had not only monopolized web search (and, thereby, basically controlled how new customers find you), but also controlled the bulk of online advertising dollars which funded your business and which they could pull, simply threaten to pull, or reduce rates at any time? Now also imagine if you believe this monopolist basically stole the product of another company that is the very subject of your business? How much would you criticize the monopolist thief’s business practices?
You might guess that it would be a tough road to walk. (We’re only imagining, of course!)
That would be a good example of why monopolies are bad for everyone.
The U.S. government has utterly failed to police Google. Because the people with the power to do so currently are corrupt. Follow the money. Hopefully, the European Union will help to correct the situation.
In the meantime, stop using Google search and Google products wherever possible. Monopolies are bad for everyone. — MacDailyNews, July 14, 2016
This would have never gotten even this far under a President Hillary (I think I just threw up in my mouth typing that). Crooked Hillary was/is exactly that, as crooked as they come.
Here’s Alphabet Inc. executive chairman Eric Schmidt wearing his staff badge at Hillary Clinton’s “victory” party on election night, November 8, 2016:
trump is the most crooked politician in American history, and has conned a large portion of the population, including you.
2 Nobel Peace Prize nominations later, and they are still brainwashed by the lies.
For a thousand bucks, I would even nominate you for one. LOL
Google isn’t a monopoly. If you don’t like their business practices or philosophy, don’t use their products and services. (Same applies to Apple, Facebook, etc.) I’ve been Google-free for many years, and I lived to tell the tale. It’s called CAPITALISM. The market, NOT the government, decides which companies and products succeed and which fail. Just say NO to BIG government!
Like it would continue under a President Senile?
“The last questions are much more difficult. Like a memory question. It’s, uh, like you’ll go, ‘Person, woman, man, camera, TV.’ So they say, ‘Could you repeat that?’ So I said, ‘Yeah.’ So it’s ‘person, woman, man, camera, TV.’ ‘Okay, that’s very good.’” – D. Trump
To me it’s not so much that media outlets are demonstrably biased, it’s that they lie about it such heartfelt conviction. Like bank robbers standing there with bags of cash saying “What money?” At least half of my anger with the left goes away when they tell the truth. Just say, “Why yes! Like most of my company I lean heavily left and our view of the world is reflected in the information we present.” I have no argument with that. Just say “Yes, we are biased.”
If CNN said, “Yes, we are biased toward the left, and our organizational goal at this time is to see Donald Trump removed from office,” their honest rating would go through the roof.
If leftist politicians (especially in California) would say that “Yes, we encourage illegal immigration in order to swell the ranks with Democrat voters,” I’d say, “Well as long as you admit it.”
It’s when they piss on you and tell you it’s rain that triggers me.
If Apple were to say that “We back illegal immigration and every possible kind of immigration because we find that foreign engineers are less expensive and better educated,” boom. Truth. What do you say to that except, “Oh.”
If most Republicans just said, “I know how to talk the talk of conservatism, but when it comes down to it, I have no freaking idea what I’m doing here except trying to get re-elected,” you’d know who not to vote for.
I’d be afraid for Nancy Pelosi to tell the truth though. She’s clearly a special case, and I don’t know if I want to know what drives that woman. “I am here to pave the way for the Satan Army of Darkness.”
So you like Fox so called News??
Screw Google.
That applies to the App Store too, Apple controls what gets approved or rejected, and what is promoted or not, they’re the gatekeepers of the app store and control it completely.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a win in this case makes a strong precedent towards forcing Apple to allow 3rd party iOS App stores.
It’s inevitable.
Google just like Facecrook needs to be shut down…..they rape their customers data, expose it, then apologize for it…..then do it again and again..and they are allowed to continue their despicable business???
To paraphrase some Apple users, If you don’t like it don’t use it, there are lots of other search engines and social media to use. Apple’s ‘closed garden’ privacy is only as good as the user makes it so just use 100% Apple services and you have nothing to worry about. No one is forcing you to use FB or Google in contrast to Apple giving no option other than their App Store for iOS users.
Thanks Sundar Pichai.
It’s just amusing that when some complain about Apple being to restrictive and told to go use Android, those same people complain about privacy by non-Apple companies and don’t stick solely to Apple.
Thank god for president Trump. His leadership will he looked back upon as one of the greatest in the history of the office of President. His haters only have emotion and fear to feed their negativity.
No US bank would be crazy enough to lend him money.
He gets in bed with the most corrupt Deutsche Bank and Russian oligarchs, who have now been proven to have helped him get elected.
He won’t show his tax returns…
As the meme says.
“You’re a special kind of stupid…l”