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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

#701

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it benefit the consumer though? I fail to see how showing links to search results pages from other companies in response to a product query is better for consumers than just showing them a listing of the products they actually searched for. [Google's response][1] to this ruling suggests they have data which confirms this: > While some comparison shopping sites naturally want Google to show them more prominently,…

It's possible for such tactics to be useful for consumers and still be an illegal use of their dominant market position. Compare MS and the bundled Internet Explorer: Yes, it was more convenient for people not to be required to download a browser after installing the OS. But imagine if MS had been successful, and Internet Explorer had emerged as the only browser: Do you think that would have been in the common intere…

I disagree that bundling IE in Windows harmed customers. If anything, it's silly to insist that an OS shouldn't come with a browser, since practically everyone uses a browser.

What should or shouldn't come with an OS is not up to bureaucrats to decide.

Going back in time, you can just as well argue that bundling Notepad in Windows is "illegal" or "anticompetitive" or what have you because it might have killed the market for third-party text editors.

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

#702

Just once, I want a company being fined to just shut off service to the countries trying to fine them....

It's not a 100% match, but some years back Spain came up with a system where Google News would be required to pay money to the news sites they linked to. Google responded by simply turning off Google News in Spain, which immediately cost Spanish news sites to lose a sizable percentage of traffic and millions of dollars in revenue: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/07/new-study-shows-...

awesome.... doesn't appear they did anything to rectify the service disconnect, nor any of the other Spanish site that shutdown as a result.
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