This past week Google (Alphabet Inc.) was hit with an anti-trust lawsuit, claiming that this tech giant operates a monopoly. A monopoly on what though? The internet?
According to this yahoo news article, Google is accused of the following:
"In their suit, the DOJ and state attorneys general claim that Google has, among other things, entered into arrangements that force the pre-installation of its apps in "prime locations on mobile devices and make them undeletable, regardless of customer preference." This relates to the Google apps on your Android phone."Meaning that for example Google has agreements in place with Apple Inc. that makes Google Search the primary search engine on iPhones. Likewise, obviously Google encourages its Android users to use Google Search as well. Now I get it, this forces the use of Google Search and does not allow the customer to pick the search engine that they'd like to use. However, I would like to bring up an interesting argument...
I almost feel like Google is being punished for having the best search engine out there on the market. Think about it, when you need to find something on the internet, you do not say "let me search the internet" - you say "let me google that".
Why is no one thinking that maybe the reason users only use Google Search is not just because it is their default search engine on their devices, but that it is in fact the best search engine product on the market?
I get it monopolies are bad, but I have yet to find another search engine that does a better job than Google Search.
Is bringing on an anti-trust lawsuit against Google really going to make the search engine market more fair? When in reality, Google Search is the best search engine product out there? Why would someone switch to another search engine when Google Search is free and works so well? How do you make the market more fair when the competitors' products are no where near as good as Google Search?
Like I said, monopolies are bad, but I do not think that an anti-trust lawsuit is going to prevent Google from having a strong hold on the search engine market. I think that their product is too good that consumers will not want to switch. That is until perhaps a better search engine comes along...
So is this the beginning of the end for big tech? I doubt it.
Like our articles? Help us continue to put out great new content each week by donating to our Patreon page!