Re:Australia’s PM suggests Bing adequate if Google blocks se...
by toast0 on Tuesday February 02, 2021 @07:33PM
(#26009121)
I'm not quite sure that we need new categories of prohibited conduct, when existing categories fit.
We could debate the particulars, gray areas abound here, but areas of concern include:
Tying: which is offering unrelated goods or services only as a bundle. Things like Android licensing (effectively) requiring Google search defaults to use the Google Play store (no longer the case in EU); possibly the Google(+) login requirement for YouTube account fits. By tying the otherwise unrelated small product with the big product, the small product gets more market share, and this can be abusive.
Dumping (or predatory pricing): selling (or giving away) a product below cost to drive out competiton. Android or Chrome could fit here; but the case is murky because the US (at least) is looking for harm to consumers, and sees free browsers and free OS for phone reducing the price of the phone as a consumer good. But there's some feedback loops here that aren't great for the consumer.
Something that comes up that's hard for me to put into a category is cross promotion. When Google highlights other Google services on search results, that sometimes feels abusive (or is reported as abusive). Especially when it's not really apropriate for the search query. This is the category news complaints seem to be in.
We could debate the particulars, gray areas abound here, but areas of concern include:
Tying: which is offering unrelated goods or services only as a bundle. Things like Android licensing (effectively) requiring Google search defaults to use the Google Play store (no longer the case in EU); possibly the Google(+) login requirement for YouTube account fits. By tying the otherwise unrelated small product with the big product, the small product gets more market share, and this can be abusive.
Dumping (or predatory pricing): selling (or giving away) a product below cost to drive out competiton. Android or Chrome could fit here; but the case is murky because the US (at least) is looking for harm to consumers, and sees free browsers and free OS for phone reducing the price of the phone as a consumer good. But there's some feedback loops here that aren't great for the consumer.
Something that comes up that's hard for me to put into a category is cross promotion. When Google highlights other Google services on search results, that sometimes feels abusive (or is reported as abusive). Especially when it's not really apropriate for the search query. This is the category news complaints seem to be in.