Google: Thwarting Nation States Is Getting Easier

July 7, 2020

“Europe’s Failure to Tame Google Is a Lesson for the US” makes an interesting point:

Two years after a record fine and an order to give Europeans more choice, Alphabet Inc.’s Google retains a vice-like grip on this business. In May 2018, just before the European Commission acted, Google had 97% of the mobile search market in the region, according to StatCounter. Its share for May this year was even higher.

If accurate, it means that punishing the US online ad giant increased its market control.

What’s the secret to Google’s success in converting a disaster into a benefit:

The EU ordered Google to stop bundling its search and browser apps with Android. Google reacted by charging phone manufacturers to license Android. It also opted to appease regulators by offering choice to users — but only on new Android phones from March 1 and only via a “choice screen” of three alternative search apps shown once when people switch on the handsets for the first time.

Google out played the regulators.

Regulators deal by looking backwards. Google operates by looking forward. The result is that the EU and others who want to trim the sails of the monopoly are in a vulnerable position. Google changes tactics, and the regulators are slow or unable to respond. In the meantime, Google continues to control the market for search.

Regulators know they are failing. The article includes this information:

Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s top antitrust official, has voiced frustration about her inability to increase competition in tech markets. During a recent webinar, she blamed the pandemic for the initial poor results of the choice screen remedy, saying “very few Android phones have been shipped due to the Covid crisis.”

Net net: Who is in control? Government officials or US technology companies?

Stephen E Arnold, July 7, 2020

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