> Charging is fair but the entire model of free service that turns into premium after a critical mass leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

It was clear that Meet for individuals' limits were waived due to COVID-19. They have done an announcement about lifting the limits and even stated that it was originally slated to end at September 30 last year. I was a bit surprised they extended it though.

In Google's defense, they aren't the market leader, that's zoom, they are the market challenger. So by definition, they can't be anti-competitive in the market of video conferencing tools, even though Google's otherwise enormous.

You can definitely be anti-competitive as a market challenger. Uber (with their subsidised fairs) would the obvious example of that.

If anything, Uber was competitive instead of anti-competitive. Anti-competitive by definition only applies to potential monopoly.

see FTC: https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/anticompetitive-practices

Predatory pricing is the usual term.