A judge ruled that Google’s ubiquitous search engine has been illegally exploiting its dominance to squash competition and stifle innovation.

“WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge on Monday ruled that Google’s ubiquitous search engine has been illegally exploiting its dominance to squash competition and stifle innovation in a seismic decision that could shake up the internet and hobble one of the world’s best-known companies…”

  • xttweaponttx@sh.itjust.works
    3·
    3 months ago

    So stoked to see this. A bit disheartening to read this kinda shit, though=

    “This victory against Google is an historic win for the American people,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland. “No company — no matter how large or influential — is above the law. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce our antitrust laws.”

    Only to be followed a few paragraphs down by

    …a drawn-out appeals process will delay any immediate effects for both consumers and advertisers. The appeals process could take as long as five years…

    Sigh.

    • atro_city@fedia.io
      1·
      3 months ago

      Betchu they’ll just send a check of 1 B to the FTC and say “that should pay the fine + interest” then go on with their day. Happened in a similar fashion before.

      • ocassionallyaduck@lemmy.world
        1·
        3 months ago

        Google is Alphabet.

        This distinction is meaningless. It is like arguing that Facebook isn’t a company anymore and Meta is a totally new institution.

        It’s Facebook. It’s Google.

        Its FAANG companies not MAANA companies.

  • Ilandar@aussie.zone
    1·
    3 months ago

    This is based on older evidence but the exclusive deal Google just signed with reddit makes it pretty clear the monopoly is planned and ongoing.

  • EnderMB@lemmy.world
    0·
    3 months ago

    Google gained their initial position fair and square. They had the better search engine, and despite the likes of Bing being actually pretty good they were never able to compete.

    All Google had to do was to follow its initial mantra of “don’t be evil”. That’s literally all it needed to do. Sadly, they were evil, and these are the seeds of that evil. I maintain today that Chrome, YouTube, Maps, and Search would still be dominant if Google were to welcome third-parties to compete and take space on their devices.

    This, IMO, is a case that is damaging to their CEO above anything else. It shows that over the last few years many of the steps taken that have alienated fans and employees have actually damaged the company too. The exec actions have damaged them, and as such the execs should pay the price or course-correct.

      • Wilzax@lemmy.world
        1·
        3 months ago

        They’re saying that google services are dominant and anticompetitive, but not dominant BECAUSE they’re anticompetitive.

        Even if they were playing fair with competitors, they would still be #1 because they were that good. But because they weren’t okay with giving competitors a fair chance, they resorted to anticompetitive practices that hurt consumers, and now this ruling is going to hurt google in return. They could have played nice and everything would have been better for everyone, but they didn’t so here we are