The network effect of an organization like Google is not to be underestimated: Google has many complementing services that all funnel you to their search engine. Because of this, other search engines are at a serious disadvantage if they want to compete. Also considering that search is very much a “winner takes all” market, where more users mean better results.

These type of situations are typically bad for consumers, and there is very much a role for the government to steer the status quo away from this and support Google’s competitors. Whether that’s done by breaking up Google, taxing them more heavily, or something else is up for discussion.

But simply telling people “just use DDG!” and considering that a viable solution to the problem is insufficient.