Historic Battle – The Google Monopoly Trial
Big Tech has been thriving in the past decade, avoiding many regulatory pressures to continue dominating at record levels. However, that is set to be tested soon as the Justice Department is suing Google for abusing their power as a monopoly, becoming the first trial regarding the manner since Microsoft all the way back in 2001.
The Justice Department, along with other states, believe that Google is illegally utilizing partnerships with a variety of businesses in order to limit the growth of other search engines, considering they have 90 percent of the market in the United States. This includes large payments to companies like Apple and Samsung to make Google the default search engine on their electronics, leading billions of users across the world to see it the first time they use their device. Another complaint stems from the fact that Google automatically preloads its services on any device that uses Android software, and both are causing competitors like Bing to be unable to compete.
Google, obviously, has arguments to refute these claims made by the Justice Department. An interesting point brought up is that many companies pay supermarkets to place their products at eye level, increasing the chance that the customer buys the item, and Google is simply doing the same thing with their search engine. Nonetheless, the outcome of this case will be as influential, if not more, than the Microsoft verdict 22 years ago, and any changes forced by the DOJ could harm what is the strongest advertising business in the world at the moment.
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I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.
