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U.S. accuses Google of abusing monopoly in ad technology

nytimes.com

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Re: U.S. accuses Google of abusing monopoly in ad technology

#191

Post by ricardo81 »

impulser_ wrote: post #158

I'm guessing the worst case is they are forced to sell off the exchange side of the Ads business, which isn't that much revenue compared to the revenue they make selling ad space. This is probably going to have a lot less effect than what people are assuming it will have. Google and Facebook have never had more competition in the Ad space. Apple and Amazon are building big Ad businesses fast. That's not the problem.…

>This isn't the reason they are making 100s of billions a year.

I do believe that the 're-targeting' Google can afford by having their assets on the majority of sites helps them maximise CPM, which would certainly be a problem for any alternate search engine who isn't interested in tracking people around the web/net. I can't remember specific figures but noted in the UK CMA report that Google generally makes twice as much as Bing on search ads (and worth bearing in mind that much of the rest of the entrants are essentially Bing meta search engines in the West)

But I agree they're certainly considered the best at search in many ways, though the increased CPM they make allows them to be made the default search engine of choice on most devices.

Becomes a bit of a chicken and egg problem when the most prominent search engine can reinforce its position as one.

Re: U.S. accuses Google of abusing monopoly in ad technology

#193

Post by jeffbee »

scarface74 wrote: post #189
jeffbee wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way does it nag? Apple will nag you to switch to Safari, even if you have literally never used Safari. It just pops up from time to time with a notification that cannot be ignored.

When you launch Chrome you never saw the “make Chrome your default browser” dialog?

It is my default browser, so I guess not. That feels like less of a nag than the platform urging you to switch browsers without any indication that you'd like to do so.

Re: U.S. accuses Google of abusing monopoly in ad technology

#194

Post by ricardo81 »

amadeuspagel wrote: post #131
dekhn wrote: post #94

I'm less concerned about Google Ad market share and more concerned with their placement of Google properties above competitors on the search results page (IE, Google Reviews over Yelp, or airline prices, etc).

For the vast majority of google searches there are no relevant ads. All these searches are subsidized by someone googling "flights to new york" and booking a flight right there. Google provides an immense public good with free (and mostly ad-free) results to all kinds of questions, which other flight search engines do not. Imagine: A flight search engine as a marketing gimick starts a web search engine, and shows fli…

It's (was in cases) a symbiotic relationship. Without sites offering flights, Google could have never offered relevant results to searchers in the first place. Same for any other vertical.

Re: U.S. accuses Google of abusing monopoly in ad technology

#195

Post by ricardo81 »

emodendroket wrote: post #97

I'm kind of sour on antitrust as much of a solution for today's issues. If we had five smaller Googles doing the same thing what would that make better?

Yes, five smaller Google's would be good, 4 more points of view.

Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter seems to have highlighted anyone with the greatest of intentions is never going to please everyone, and that choice and freedom to express that choice is good.

Re: U.S. accuses Google of abusing monopoly in ad technology

#196

Post by jeffbee »

dekhn wrote: post #190
amadeuspagel wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This google flights "onebox" is what I'm talking about here, and what I assume the parent comment refered to.

Yes. Google's Flights product. I'm saying they give it preferential ranking treatment so more people use it (regardless of whether it's a superior product) and I would love it if the government could actually prove that).

How would you draft the rule? Is it just that Google is forbidden to offer services of any kind that other people also offer? Speaking as an informed consumer I strenuously prefer Google Flights over all others. I'd feel harmed if the DOJ just outlawed the 1 offering that wasn't a giant scam.

Re: U.S. accuses Google of abusing monopoly in ad technology

#197

Post by dragonwriter »

ricardo81 wrote: post #195
emodendroket wrote: post #97

I'm kind of sour on antitrust as much of a solution for today's issues. If we had five smaller Googles doing the same thing what would that make better?

Yes, five smaller Google's would be good, 4 more points of view. Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter seems to have highlighted anyone with the greatest of intentions is never going to please everyone, and that choice and freedom to express that choice is good.

> Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter seems to have highlighted anyone with the greatest of intentions is never going to please everyone

I dunno, wouldn’t that require assuming that Elon Musk had “the greatest of intentions”, as well as being a generalization to “never” from a single failure?

Re: U.S. accuses Google of abusing monopoly in ad technology

#198

Post by EarlKing »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #105
debacle wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't a liberal/conservative issue. This is a corporatism issue.

Right, and the current court is unusually pro-corporate: https://www.axios.com/2022/08/04/supreme-court-john-roberts-... . And although it's not necessarily a liberal vs. conservative issue, it would be deceptive not to point out that this is entirely because of the Republican justices.

The current court was preceded by a far less conservative court which did precisely dick about the problem for decades. Stop trying to frame this as a party issue when this is a class issue -- and the bourgeoisie controls both sides of the aisle.

Re: U.S. accuses Google of abusing monopoly in ad technology

#199

Post by emodendroket »

ricardo81 wrote: post #195
emodendroket wrote: post #97

I'm kind of sour on antitrust as much of a solution for today's issues. If we had five smaller Googles doing the same thing what would that make better?

Yes, five smaller Google's would be good, 4 more points of view. Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter seems to have highlighted anyone with the greatest of intentions is never going to please everyone, and that choice and freedom to express that choice is good.

Consider this: one of the many complaints about big tech is companies having too much personal data on customers. But if we feel one entity having the data is bad, why is several having it better? That seems worse. Now it's even harder to keep track of.

Re: U.S. accuses Google of abusing monopoly in ad technology

#200

Post by emodendroket »

tgv wrote: post #187
emodendroket wrote: post #97

I'm kind of sour on antitrust as much of a solution for today's issues. If we had five smaller Googles doing the same thing what would that make better?

I don't understand what you'd want instead. The way I see it, antitrust is the lowest bar in consumer (and business) protection. I'd advocate for more regulation, much more, but that seems unreachable in the current political situation in the US.

I suppose what I'm saying is I don't think antitrust is necessarily beneficial for consumers or client businesses. It could be. But generally speaking, large companies pay their employees better, are more likely to comply with regulations, and so on. Having businesses be small for the sake of being small is not necessarily good.
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