Logo

parislemon

  • Random
  • Archive
  • RSS
  • Ask me anything

Antitrust+?

Given my post last night, this will probably sound like piling on. But I’m sorry, it’s the first thing that comes to mind. I don’t see how it can’t.

How on Earth is Google going to avoid antitrust inquiries with their new Search+ features announced today? If Facebook, Twitter, etc, have any decent presence in DC, the ball began rolling a few hours ago.

This is the type of case that Senators die for. Google wrapped it in a bow and placed it in one of their laps.

Most of the broader antitrust concerns against Google are bullshit in my opinion. You can argue that they have a monopoly on search, but it’s a natural one. They’ve earned it. They’re simply better at search than their competitors. This has always been true. It remains true.

But when they use that natural monopoly to start pushing into other verticals, things get gray. Travel, restaurant reviews, etc, etc. We see more of it each year. 

But this, at first glance, seems decidedly worse. Google is using Search to propel their social network. They might say it’s “not a social network, it’s a part of Google”, but no one is going to buy that. They were late to the game in social and this is the best catchup strategy ever. 

Given that it’s opt-out, I’m just not sure that this is all that different from Microsoft bundling IE with Windows.

The fact that Google already has a counter argument says something as well. 

“Facebook and Twitter and other services, basically, their terms of service don’t allow us to crawl them deeply and store things. Google+ is the only [network] that provides such a persistent service,” Google Fellow Amit Singhal told Danny Sullivan. “Of course, going forward, if others were willing to change, we’d look at designing things to see how it would work,” he continued.

On the surface, this sounds like a fair point. But it’s hollow for two reasons.

First, it’s not gonna happen.

Second, those other companies can argue that it’s not in their best business interest to open that data. In effect, Google would be forcing them to hurt their business if they were to open the data up. The fact that Google previously had a deal for Twitter data (which expired) also will cast this argument in an interesting light.

I’m not saying that the Justice Department should look into this. I’m just saying that I think they will. I’m far from an expert on this, but I think anyone should be able to see how this is a very slippery slope for Google. And it’s surprising they would try this given the heat on them in other directions with regard to antitrust.

Google’s best hope here may be for Facebook to deepen its relationship with Microsoft for even more Bing social search features. Or to hope that Twitter does. But Bing is still far behind Google in search. That is unlikely to change. This is going to get interesting. 

Update: Sure enough, Alexander Macgillivray, Twitter’s general counsel who specializes in policy (and used to work for Google) has some interesting thoughts on this:

Bad day for the Internet. bit.ly/Am5bqz Having been there, I can imagine the dissension @Google to search being warped this way.

— Alex Macgillivray (@amac) January 10, 2012

Update 2: Twitter responds to Antitrust+.

Update 3: And Google’s response to Twitter’s response.

    • #google
    • #google+
    • #tech
    • #social
    • #antitrust
    • #twitter
    • #facebook
  • January 10, 2012
  • 73
  • Permalink
  • Share
    Tweet

73 Notes/ Hide

  1. craftchickforever reblogged this from parislemon
  2. speedofsearch reblogged this from parislemon and added:
    Extremely valid points...studied antitrust law in college).
  3. speedofsearch liked this
  4. kamalazmy liked this
  5. nancym reblogged this from parislemon
  6. nancym liked this
  7. randallb reblogged this from parislemon and added:
    is, there are so many choices for search (Bing, DuckDuckGo, etc.)...if these results are...
  8. taotsu liked this
  9. morganlwilson liked this
  10. antoniogaspard reblogged this from parislemon and added:
    es la compañía más odiada ultimamente: Apple, Amazon,...Facebook, Microsoft,
  11. ksablan liked this
  12. bdougherty liked this
  13. danielkhanh liked this
  14. jenclass reblogged this from parislemon and added:
    read MG’s perspective on Google, Google+...company’s broken relationship
  15. mikepink liked this
  16. jacketslost reblogged this from parislemon
  17. datruthbates reblogged this from parislemon
  18. seanmonstar reblogged this from parislemon and added:
    MG Siegler, regarding Google’s comments...networks haven’t shared their data for...
  19. zaynehumphrey liked this
  20. seldo liked this
  21. lexspot liked this
  22. lexspot reblogged this from parislemon
  23. infoneer-pulse liked this
  24. muratbiskin reblogged this from parislemon
  25. jonprins reblogged this from justinherrick and added:
    Things only get grey once they start using their market clout to prevent competition. See: Bell preventing competing...
  26. justinherrick liked this
  27. justinherrick reblogged this from parislemon
  28. loganabbott liked this
  29. cyndidellaluna liked this
  30. dan-gerzone liked this
  31. subtlearray liked this
  32. bolton reblogged this from parislemon
  33. dbuntinx liked this
  34. dawncurrin liked this
  35. jackchanning reblogged this from parislemon
  36. lawreview reblogged this from parislemon and added:
    know about this. I need time...thought is: What...Facebook?...
  37. itsaykay liked this
  38. fire0wl reblogged this from parislemon
  39. eikonklast reblogged this from parislemon
  40. danielbru liked this
  41. chipk reblogged this from parislemon and added:
    really putting themselves out there...antitrust investigation written all over it.
  42. chipk liked this
  43. lifeofthibault liked this
  44. vjk2005 liked this
  45. ahandsomeshark liked this
  46. jennaaaaah liked this
  47. This was featured in #Tech
  48. atul702 liked this
  49. davidchicopham liked this
  50. dontknowtheway liked this
  51. Show more notesLoading...
← Previous • Next →
Words by MG Siegler

Pages

  • About
  • Words
  • Vault
  • TC
  • Pando
  • Haikus

Elsewhere

  • @parislemon on Twitter
  • Facebook Profile
  • parislemon on Vimeo
  • parislemon on Youtube
  • parislemon on Flickr
  • parislemon on Foursquare
  • parislemon on Gowalla
  • Google
  • Linkedin Profile
  • RSS
  • Random
  • Archive
  • Ask me anything
  • Mobile

© 2012 MG Siegler. Effector Theme by Carlo Franco.

Powered by Tumblr