Re:Pay up or we’ll make Google ban your ads
by tommica on Tuesday February 18, 2020 @02:16AM
(#22354119)
Isn't it mainly about short-term vs long-term gain? Self-correcting would most likely mean long-term gains, but I'm guessing it is more cost-efficient to wait for government to do something about it, while paying lobbyist to manage things on that side.
Re:Pay up or we’ll make Google ban your ads
by Draiken on Tuesday February 18, 2020 @05:56AM
(#22355036)
It's probably even more profitable to invest in lobbying and prevent the government from ever doing anything meaningful to them in the first place.
The problem with the assumption that governments can do something is that it relies on the notion that they are independent from the businesses. That's most certainly not the case today. Representatives have a lot more interest in keeping Google happy than their constituents.
If you wait until the gov't get involved, it's going to be a much more painful, slow, bureaucratic process and you'll probably end up in a far worse position than if you just self-corrected in the first place.
A good example are drug prices. If drug companies were smart, they'd find a compromise. If they wait for Washington to do, they're really not going to like the solution.