Google pays ‘enormous’ sums to maintain search-engine dominance, DOJ says

Re:Google pays ‘enormous’ sums to maintain search-engine dom... by asdfasgasdgasdg on Friday September 09, 2022 @08:56AM (#32778571)

Wouldn’t it be really good for google if the DOJ banned paying for default placement? I mean it seems like an untenable result to say that anyone but google can pay for default placement. So if paying for default is not okay, then that just saves google a lot of money (since google knows most people will pick them if presented a slate of options).

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Re:Google pays ‘enormous’ sums to maintain search-engine dom... by matt_attack on Friday September 09, 2022 @08:59AM (#32778605)

If they knew most people would pick them, then why are they paying?

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Re:Google pays ‘enormous’ sums to maintain search-engine dom... by bigyikes on Friday September 09, 2022 @09:03AM (#32778655)

Most people would pick Google if there was no default option.

Most people don’t change the default option though. If Google didn’t (or couldn’t by law) pay such large sums, someone else (e.g. Bing) would pay a bit less and become the default. Even though most people prefer Google over Bing, there is still a significant incumbent advantage for being the default option.

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Re:Google pays ‘enormous’ sums to maintain search-engine dom... by scarface74 on Friday September 09, 2022 @10:14PM (#32787066)

And because little old Microsoft couldn’t afford to pay Apple to be the default search engine?

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Re:Google pays ‘enormous’ sums to maintain search-engine dom... by selectodude on Friday September 09, 2022 @11:25PM (#32787463)

Well, no. They did pay to become the default and I guess it was a big enough hit to Google that Google opened the pocketbook.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/17/09/25/apple-switches-fr...

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Re:Google pays ‘enormous’ sums to maintain search-engine dom... by eloisant on Friday September 09, 2022 @09:00AM (#32778628)

To prevent their competitors for making deals to be the default.

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Re:Google pays ‘enormous’ sums to maintain search-engine dom... by asdfasgasdgasdg on Friday September 09, 2022 @09:04AM (#32778675)

Bingo. Google is less paying for default placement and more paying so that they aren’t locked out by default.

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Re:Google pays ‘enormous’ sums to maintain search-engine dom... by utopcell on Friday September 09, 2022 @11:51PM (#32787634)

Because Apple is extorting them.

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Re:Google pays ‘enormous’ sums to maintain search-engine dom... by dredmorbius on Saturday September 10, 2022 @04:01AM (#32788788)

There's a difference in exclusive dealing by a market leader and by a new entrant.

Of course, if and as a new entrant garners increased share, rules should change to reflect that.

The problem is that market dominance tends to be a positive feedback loop, for reasons not associated with actual product superiority. Ultimately it quashes choice, competition, new innovation, and the like.

Current US antitrust legal theory mostly ignores this based on the Bork / Posner / Director (all Chicago School) tradition. See Cory Doctorow's new book Chokepoint Capitalism for a revised take: <https://doctorow.medium.com/what-is-chokepoint-capitalism-b8...>

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Re:Google pays ‘enormous’ sums to maintain search-engine dom... by freediver on Friday September 09, 2022 @10:00AM (#32779339)

What would a fair default option be?

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Re:Google pays ‘enormous’ sums to maintain search-engine dom... by tgsovlerkhgsel on Friday September 09, 2022 @01:47PM (#32782540)

Either letting the user choose, or the developers setting a default (ideally with the interests of their users in mind). Of course, the latter is subject to interpretation, and a privacy-focused application might make a different choice than standard consumer products.

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Re:Google pays ‘enormous’ sums to maintain search-engine dom... by pessimizer on Friday September 09, 2022 @04:49PM (#32784728)

Any choice made that doesn't involve a kickback.

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