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Google United States Government

Report: U.S. Anti-Trust Regulators Will Accuse Google of Crushing Competition to Maintain Monopoly (msn.com) 60

The U.S. government has readied an antitrust lawsuit against Google's search engine, accusing the company of "crushing competition to protect and extend monopoly," according to news reports: The move comes after a 14-month long investigation, where the U.S. Department of Justice probed whether Google distorts search results to favour its own products and shuts off access to competitors, sources told Bloomberg. This is significant as Google enjoys a major 90 percent control of the U.S. online search segment and generates an enviable $100 billion revenue. Rivals have long complained of abuse of power to "snuff out the competition"....

Sources told Bloomberg action is expected within the next week or two, after the State attorneys general and Justice Department lawyers complete final preparations for the case this week in Washington. Officials met with Google reps the previous week to discuss accusations of search bias against competitors and providing of Google and other partners as default to users... "It's impossible for small search engine competitors to compete with Google's deep pockets and outbid it for valuable placements like Apple's browser," Gabriel Weinberg, CEO of DuckDuckGo, said in his complaint to the Department of Justice.

In a recent statement, a spokesperson for DuckDuckGo said the company is pleased that the DoJ "is going to finally address the elephant in the room: Google's obvious, overwhelming, and anti-competitive dominance in search," adding that "a world without search defaults" would benefit consumers.

Google's search engine "decides the fates of thousands of businesses online," notes Bloomberg, "and has funded Google's expansion into email, online video, smartphone software, maps, cloud computing, autonomous vehicles and other forms of digital ads."
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Report: U.S. Anti-Trust Regulators Will Accuse Google of Crushing Competition to Maintain Monopoly

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  • But But Google (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by rtb61 ( 674572 )

    Googles contribution to human society, not the number one search engine, no they corrupted that, the number one advertising company, the number one cheer leader of mass consumption to out environments demise, all whilst cheering how green they are, the planet's number one hypocrite, every single one of them, either a high priest or a minion of over consumption, constantly targeting, constantly pushing, consume more, buy more, you are a loser if you do not continue to consume, burn more, eat more, spend more

  • by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Sunday September 27, 2020 @07:11PM (#60549150)

    Clearly, these people are completely unsuitable to prevent monopolies. To be effective, you have to nib them in the bid when they are still growing. Waiting until they peak and then waiting some more is not going to be effective in any way.

    • by Joce640k ( 829181 ) on Sunday September 27, 2020 @09:44PM (#60549436) Homepage

      Clearly, these people are completely unsuitable to prevent monopolies.

      They've also failed to notice that Microsoft's latest versions of Windows/Edge are now going to unbelievable lengths to make people use Bing.

      eg. Every word you type in the search menu goes to Bing, every new tab you open in Edge will show a Bing search page, Windows update sets your default browser and search engines, etc., etc. Even things like Visual Studio are now adding Bing search boxes all over the place.

      Then there's Apple. Don't get me started on Apple.

      • by Merk42 ( 1906718 )

        Then there's Apple. Don't get me started on Apple.

        Apple can do what they want, why they are just a little underdog compared to the evil Microsoft and Google. Also Apple controls the hardware too, making it a vertical monopoly, this isn't a monopoly and they are free from anti-trust because reasons.

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        They won't waste their time on Bing because nobody uses it. Apple is facing similar investigations AND civil legal action.

    • To be effective, you have to nib them in the bid when they are still growing. Waiting until they peak and then waiting some more is not going to be effective in any way.

      You must be new on this planet! Here, we always wait until it is almost too late to fix things. A good analogy would be that we always wait until a few deaths occurred before fixing something hazardous on our roads, like a dangerous crossing, curve, hill etc...

      • by gweihir ( 88907 )

        To be effective, you have to nib them in the bid when they are still growing. Waiting until they peak and then waiting some more is not going to be effective in any way.

        You must be new on this planet! Here, we always wait until it is almost too late to fix things. A good analogy would be that we always wait until a few deaths occurred before fixing something hazardous on our roads, like a dangerous crossing, curve, hill etc...

        Naa, I know that. Climate change is a prime example. I still have hopes that some people will do a good job, but apparently that is just not possible when an organization is more than just a few people.

    • Hey, I'm bored! () Let’s have a great time together () ==>> gg.gg/me34x
  • by WoodstockJeff ( 568111 ) on Sunday September 27, 2020 @07:14PM (#60549164) Homepage

    Google got big because Google was better than what came before, like Yahoo and Altavista. And it continued to be better than what came later, as they tried to "out Google Google".

    Frankly, they have an unfair advantage, in that they did a crapload more work than the ones that came before and after. Billions of sites scanned. Millions of computers thrown at the problem.

    Those that come after want to create their own niche to fill. Bing wants to be the best integrated into Windows. DuckDuckGo wants to be "privacy based". And when people's desires correspond to the niche these search engines have, life is in harmony... except there isn't much money in harmony. Therefore, it's Google's fault.

    • by olsmeister ( 1488789 ) on Sunday September 27, 2020 @07:26PM (#60549208)
      Google figured out how to monetize search and pair it with advertising better than anyone else.
    • by dfm3 ( 830843 ) on Sunday September 27, 2020 @09:00PM (#60549370) Journal
      Google got popular because the competition was either curated directories of websites, or used algorithms that sucked.

      There was a time, from the early 2000's until around 2012 or so, when Google's results were indeed superior. Then they started catering to the masses who want to ask natural language queries like "who is that lady with the blue hair who sings that song about cats" or "bank of america login" and Google's search became complete crap for those of us who use search engines for obscure or highly technical queries. These days I often find myself using DDG or (gasp!) even Bing when researching anything technical, because Google is just going to return a list of "Having Windows Driver Issues? Try These Five Steps!" articles instead of the forum post that actually explains how to fix the problem.

      And don't get me started on how the ads have been gradually redesigned to the point that they are now essentially indistinguishable from the actual list of search results...
      • Google got big a few years before they did natural search questions. However it wasn't just better results that mattered. Another popular reason was that their interface was absolutely dead simple. At the time every other search engine was cluttered with ads and the result rankings were clearly paid. Many results were very low quality.

        The experience was terrible and Google simply offered a better experience. Markedly Google today resembles their competitors back then far more than it does the Google of 20 y

        • Honestly I like that Google offers natural language queries - they're quite effective for many things. I just really, really wish they hadn't also gutted their advanced search in the process.

          • Completely agreed, Boolean search hasnâ(TM)t worked properly in years. Try to do an exact search to replicate it and you lose the ability to perform filtering by date and so on. Then thereâ(TM)s all the censorship issues. Google has become something in desperate need of disruption. I wonder if they even realize it.

      • Google got popular because there were no ads on their homepage or interleaved in the search results. Period

      • Google's search became complete crap for those of us who use search engines for obscure or highly technical queries.

        Have you tried phrasing your technical query in natural language, rather than using a list of keywords? I find it works much better. I think a lot of technical people who've been using Google since the beginning find it less effective because they're still trying to use it the way they did 20 years ago, but the engine has changed. It's actually gotten much smarter and better in most ways, but the way you have to use it has changed.

        As an example, while typing this I found myself struggling to remember how

    • Googles international tax structures means it barely pays any tax. Even if you count the USA overseas revenue loophole (That the stupid EU will never match) it is still staggeringly small. When you add in alliances and G's Android base, the of market share / power is higher. Only Apple Tesla and MS and FB AMZ could raise capital cheaper to make a go at at There again even MS had to pretend and bake in telemetry to gain entry, and not doing well. The solution is close to what France is considering. A 30% o
  • For all the evils Google accused of doing Amazon is doing much worse. And don't get me started on Facebook and Twitter. Apple demanding 30% tax and protecting its walled garden.

    They are all evil. And as long people behave like sage grouse in a lek [app.goo.gl] there is not much regulators can do. The female sage grouse picks the male picked by most other females, thus small initial advantage snowballs up. The winner might not really be the best male.

    Its like trying to have a democracy with totally apathetic voter

  • They should focus on YouTube too.

  • In the search arena Google is a Monopoly. And they use that monopoly to leverage their other interests such as youtube. Facebook and Amazon do the same.

    Break them up.

  • I've said it before and I'll say it now, Google is not and has never had any monopoly in the search market. Please answer these questions:

    • Do they prevent the user from typing any other search engine in the web browser?
    • Do they prevent web browsers from having several search engines?
    • Is Google search irreplaceable? Does Google actively try to destroy other search engines or do something which makes their operations/life harder?
    • Is Google search the only search engine out there?
    • Does Google search cost you
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      That list is not an exhaustive list of all the ways to take advantage of a near monopoly.

      It's not Google's fault other search engine suck badly.

      The Network Effect stands in the way of competition. You can't get big enough to index enough without first getting big enough. Same with Facebook: you make it easy to connect up with people by first connecting up with people. One-stop social shopping.

      • The counter argument to this is Bing - it's earlier iterations are older than Google, was the default on almost all PC's for years .. has ~ 5% of the market

        • by Tablizer ( 95088 )

          I don't disagree that Google did more things right than other search companies, including Yahoo and Altavista.

          But the rewards for being the best shouldn't last forever if it results in a near monopoly. Bing can copy whatever strategies Google used for success. But the Network Effect acts as a barrier.

          Monopolies rarely remain sharp anyhow. They get complacent over time and spend resources preventing competition and lobbying politicians rather than on innovating.

    • I suggest you present your findings to the supreme court next time there's a case about monopoly abuse. I'm sure the judges will discard a ton of written law and precedent in favour of your questions ...

    • Does Google search cost you any money? Is it even a product/service which is sold to the end user? How something which is handed out for free can even be considered a monopoly?

      That right there, gets to the heart of the issue. You are looking at this from the wrong point of view. You aren't their customer. You are their product. The market they are in is not really "search engine" it is "advertising to people on the internet". If you are looking to advertise on the internet, you might have to go through Google, at least if you are marketing to more than a handful of people. You don't really have much choice (there are a few other options - Facebook and maybe Microsoft [Bing]). Goo

    • Does Google use its dominant position in the search market to provide preferential adoption of its other services?
      Does Google use its dominant position in the search market to pay for preferential treatment by vendors?
      Does Google use its dominant position in the search market in the above ways to prevent others from entering the market, thus ensuring that they lack access to the investment capital required to provide a superior product?

      As for your question about unbiased results - yes, in fact, Google
  • Trump wouldn't allow this as that would be socialism and big government. He is free market so this can not be ... unless he is not a true conservatives or Google did something pissed him off with search reseults/

    • Trump might hate the name socialism, but he's been giving out money to pretty near everyone in the country in a very socialist manner.
  • by AReilly ( 9339 ) on Sunday September 27, 2020 @09:38PM (#60549428)

    on the default PC is not Google. That means that it's popular (90%? who knows) despite the fact that every one of those PC users has to go out of their way to change the search engine setting (which they do by downloading a different browser, Google's Chrome, usually).

    Duck duck go don't even run a web crawler: they outsource to Bing for actual search results.

    If any of them provided a competitive service, then perhaps they would be more competitive.

    I remember life before google search, AltaVista and all. You can prize Google from my cold, dead, browser...

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It's incredible how badly Microsoft failed when they had the default browser, default home page and default search engine most computers. Their product was so bad that people were motivated to change the default, a fairly high bar for most users.

      • by brunes69 ( 86786 )

        You keep saying like this is all past tense.. it is still the *current situation*, which is the OP's point.

        For all of the complaints of Google dominance - Microsoft still buckets all of it's properties as default, yet basically everyone manually switches to Google.

        • Arguably, the most popular platform for accessing the web does have Google as default. That would, of course, be Android.

          Microsoft's problem is that MSN search just wasn't very good. Also, that was back when Google actually had a superior product. Then Microsoft came out with Bing. Bing is still not great, but certainly on par with Google whose quality has been on a long, steady decline. However, by the time they came out with Bing, Microsoft had let their dominance in the browser market slip from thei

  • Now weâ(TM)ll have to use DuckDuckGo which is shitty. Whenever we have something nice, government regulator fools come to take it away.

  • by evanh ( 627108 ) on Sunday September 27, 2020 @11:04PM (#60549502)

    that the biggest complaint is Google is paying Apple too much.

  • Going to flop (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Todd Knarr ( 15451 ) on Sunday September 27, 2020 @11:21PM (#60549514) Homepage

    I suspect this one's going to go as well as so many other anti-trust lawsuits have gone: not well at all. There's been too many precedents set that mere harm to competitors isn't sufficient. I don't see how the idea that a company can be forced to not spend it's money because it's got too much is going to fly either. I think Google's at a point where it does need to be told it can't steamroll everybody else just because it can, but the GOP's spent too much effort over the last decades insuring that companies can in fact use their financial resources to steamroll competitors and opposition for that to stand a chance now.

    • I think Google's at a point where it does need to be told it can't steamroll everybody else just because it can, but the GOP's spent too much effort over the last decades insuring that companies can in fact use their financial resources to steamroll competitors and opposition for that to stand a chance now.

      The GOP doesn't give two shits about consistency. Obama can't appoint a supreme at the end of his presidency, but Trump can, etc etc. The case against Google can go ahead if they want it to. The only question is how much bribery will it take to stop it.

  • Remember when.... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by PhantomHarlock ( 189617 ) on Sunday September 27, 2020 @11:44PM (#60549540)

    Once again, David has become Goliath.

    Older slashdotters might remember the time when coverage of then-young Google on Slashdot was effusively and overwhelmingly positive. For years not a hint of negative press. They had an amazing track record of churning out useful product after useful product. But now they're too successful, too big, and the tables have turned on them. It's the cycle of tech-life...

  • Big G: What on Earth are you talking about? We're not 'crushing the competition' like you say -- we're just walking along, minding our own business.

    Do YOU actually notice the ants underneath your feet as you walk along? Well us neither. Now go away or we'll make you Bing It [expta.com] !
    • The search engine is the best, but Google crushes competitors by putting their own products ahead in the search results (sometimes intentionally, sometimes not).

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