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European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

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Re: European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

#191

Post by baybal2 »

helb wrote: post #116
nkkollaw wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I read, AMP is a subset of HTML to make pages load faster and deliver ads more efficiently (which might appeal to content creators). I assume that Google is attempting to make devs start using a proprietary technology instead of the well-established HTML standard, or: - somehow lock everyone in with the format - force people to switch to Chrome since it would run those pages better - force other browsers to…

This might be worth reading: https://www.alexkras.com/i-decided-to-disable-amp-on-my-site... (on HN yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14635013 )

Most importantly, it walls off a lion share of few remaining competing ad publishing platforms

Re: European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

#193

Post by huckyaus »

kuschku wrote: post #44
gressquel wrote: post #32

I wish they would add an additional 1 billion fine for AMP.

AMP and Android are in a separste case that's also being worked on right now, fines over 4 bln are expected there.

Do you have a source for the claim that AMP is part of the Android case, or indeed any case?

Re: European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

#194

Post by eeZah7Ux »

ginko wrote: post #66
currysausage wrote: post #23

I tend to agree with the underlying judgment, yet the record-breaking fine seems disproportionate to the debatable degree of wrongdoing, compared to the Intel case, where the (obviously reprehensible) extortion of distributors etc. only led to a fine of about €1.06B.

I'd say the problem isn't so much that Google's fine is too high, but that Intel's fine was too low.

They are both really low.

Re: European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

#195

Post by amelius »

jordonwii wrote: post #154

Google posted a response blog post: https://www.blog.google/topics/google-europe/european-commis... It's mostly just fluff, but they do make a good point about the role of Amazon and eBay in product searches. I remember one of the early criticisms of the EU in this case being that they defined the "market" to exclude Amazon and eBay. Anyone know what the EUs reasoning for that is?

From Google's piece:

> When you shop online, you want to find the products you’re looking for quickly and easily. And advertisers want to promote those same products. That's why Google shows shopping ads, connecting our users with thousands of advertisers, large and small, in ways that are useful for both.

The problem is that when you are shopping for something, you don't want advertisers to be influencing what you see in search results. You generally want the best match to your search, not the product with the biggest advertisement budget behind it.

By upranking others, Google is benefiting themselves, and doing the consumer a disservice. This is what they should be fined for.

But they have a point about Amazon and others doing basically similar things.

Re: European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

#196

Post by jpalomaki »

jlebrech wrote: post #28

what's stopping google from shutting up shop in the EU. would they have to block EU access? how much revenue do they make from EU clients?

It is not just the revenue they make from EU. Closing the shop in Europe would leave the market for somebody else. With such a large market left for others, some competitor could gain significant momentum and threaten Google's position in US and other places as well.

Re: European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

#197

Post by HelloNurse »

amelius wrote: post #181
HelloNurse wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AMP is open to implement (or copy) for anybody with Google-scale datacenters, not for any company. From the official site: "The Google AMP Cache is a proxy-based content delivery network for delivering all valid AMP documents." In other words, you are welcome to tie yourself to Google infrastructure, not merely to a proprietary software platform that you can at least use on your own (like Windows etc. in the Microsof…

> AMP is open to implement (or copy) for anybody with Google-scale datacenters, not for any company. But doesn't it hold for any market, that as technology advances, the barriers to entry become larger?

AMP is not a technological advancement: sites are perfectly able to serve lean web pages from their own server. AMP is a rather important brick in a wall of monopoly.

Re: European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

#198

Post by contravariant »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #137
cyxxon wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If they are forced to stop doing this it will make my search experience worse for me. This seems to be the whole point of the fine. Currently Google's services just so damned conveniently integrated that no one uses competitors' services, even if they are better. The thing is, though, I am totally with you here. I don't want to use one of the other services for maps, or flights, or these snippets for information. T…

> Currently Google's services just so damned conveniently integrated that no one uses competitors' services, even if they are better. Here's the thing: they're not really better, because they're not integrated. Google tools tend to suck in many different ways, but their integration usually more than makes up for it. > The thing is, though, I am totally with you here. I don't want to use one of the other services for…

They're allowed to offer integrated third party results, they're just not allowed to deny this integration to competitors.

Re: European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

#199

Post by codeproject »

I beg everyone answer my question. The anti-trust laws are originated from USA. The anti-monopolies rules are much harsher in US than those of Europe. Why did not federal government pick this up? Since a lot of the companies that are disadvantaged by this Google practice are Us companies. Also I have to agree that this ruling is tough but fair. And the writing is very concise by easy to understand. it is good writing no matter you like the ruling or not.

Re: European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

#200

Post by aapjesverkoper »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #170
gpribeiro wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Capitalism implies economic agents that follow fair rules. What this ruling shows is that EU haven't forgot what capitalism is all about.

I think the GP is complaining about how the rules are structured so that you can never win. And it's true - they are. By design.

Are you honestly implying that google, a multi billion dollar corporation hasn't 'won'?
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