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Comment by Dalewyn

6 days ago

Allow me to break this down:

* Google effectively holds a monopoly of the browser market (Chrome). Apple (Safari) only exists because of vendor lock-in, and Mozilla (Firefox) is a vassal state; all "other" browsers are Chrome.

* Google shares a duopoly of the mobile OS market with Apple (Android vs. iOS).

* Google holds a monopoly of the video streaming market (Youtube).

* Google holds a monopoly of the malvertising market (Adsense, Doubleclick, et al.).

* Google effectively holds a monopoly of the web search market (Google Search).

* Google holds the vast majority of the email market (Gmail).

* Google is the absolutely dominant player in the consumer cloud market (Google Drive).

* Google shares a duopoly with Apple in the cloud photo market (Google Photos vs. iCloud Photos).

* Google shares a duopoly with Microsoft in the consumer office software market (Google Docs vs. Office 365).

* Google shares a duopoly with Apple in the digital wallet market (Google Pay/Wallet vs. Apple Pay).

I can go on, but with this being said let me ask you: Why the hell should Google not be split and cut apart nine ways to Sunday?

8 comments

Dalewyn

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eru  6 days ago

Thanks. The summary seems to be: Google is a big player in many markets, but not a monopoly.

You mentioned some as 'monopolies'. Let's go through them:

Browsers: as far as I can tell, the other browsers that 'are Chrome' are Chromium at most. Eg Microsoft is surely capable of forking Chromium, if Google does anything untoward.

Video streaming: I hear TikTok and Instagram and Netflix etc are popular for streaming videos, too? People also seem to be getting a lot of videos via telegram channels? (I don't know the exact numbers here. So I can't say anything definite.)

Web search: Google used to be really dominant, but they are arguably on a downward trend without any government interference: more and more people are using the likes of ChatGPT to fill the same niche in their lives.

> Why the hell should Google not be split and cut apart nine ways to Sunday?

Presumably because there's a presumption of non-interference in the markets? The same reason the government doesn't just lock you and me up for no good reason, or confiscates our property.

  • alkonaut  6 days ago

    > Google is a big player in many markets, but not a monopoly.

    Yes. The EU "dominant position" terminology is better because otherwise someone will do an "well achscually" about it being a 90% market position or whatever. In practical terms, you can assume "monopoly" is used as "too big" or "too dominant" not, "sole player". It's best to just accept it.

  • Dalewyn  6 days ago

    >Thanks. The summary seems to be: Google is a big player in many markets, but not a monopoly.

    And the combination thereof is an unholy abomination.

    Namely the unholy trinity of Browser + Malvertising + Search. Nothing can compete against Google so long as that trinity stands, and it protects all the other mono/duopolies from incursions with impunity.

    • eru  5 days ago

      The likes of ChatGPT are giving Google serious concerns over their search business.

      In any case, it's easy to switch to an alternative search engine. Users seems to like Google Search enough to stick with it.

portaouflop  6 days ago

Why not split Microsoft and Apple as well while we are at it?

A bit unrelated but News Corp and Random House should also end up on the chopping block.