Googleopoly
It's no secret that Google is a household name. So much so, that it's often stated: "Oh I don't know the answer, let me
Google it." But apparently, forty-eight states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have a problem with Google. The famous search engine has been the center of an antitrust lawsuit led by the attorney general from Texas. There are a total of fifty, yes, fifty attorney generals that are trying to assess Google and see if they have a monopoly on the online search engines.
"Google's parent company, Alphabet, has a market value of more than $820 billion and last year reported revenue of $137 billion and income of $31 billion." Google is one of the main search engines that people use today. It is easy to forget that there are other search engines are out there competing for number one. I know I definitely forget. However, Google isn't only dominating search engines, it is also in charge of ads. "Google will control about 31% of global digital ad dollars." So they are making money by using people's search history to advertise things that the consumer has previously looked up. I understand how monopolies work and that they are meant to protect smaller businesses to make sure that everyone has a chance to make a profit (yay, capitalism). However, Google has dominated the industry far too long and I feel as though the people bringing the lawsuit have waited too long to bring this issue up. For Generation Y google and the internet have just always been there so it is hard to separate the two. For us, Google is ubiquitous. It is all we know, it is all we've ever known. All I have to say is good luck to the fifty attorney generals bringing this case against the search engine giant that is Google.
It's no secret that Google is a household name. So much so, that it's often stated: "Oh I don't know the answer, let me Google it." But apparently, forty-eight states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have a problem with Google. The famous search engine has been the center of an antitrust lawsuit led by the attorney general from Texas. There are a total of fifty, yes, fifty attorney generals that are trying to assess Google and see if they have a monopoly on the online search engines. "Google's parent company, Alphabet, has a market value of more than $820 billion and last year reported revenue of $137 billion and income of $31 billion." Google is one of the main search engines that people use today. It is easy to forget that there are other search engines are out there competing for number one. I know I definitely forget. However, Google isn't only dominating search engines, it is also in charge of ads. "Google will control about 31% of global digital ad dollars." So they are making money by using people's search history to advertise things that the consumer has previously looked up. I understand how monopolies work and that they are meant to protect smaller businesses to make sure that everyone has a chance to make a profit (yay, capitalism). However, Google has dominated the industry far too long and I feel as though the people bringing the lawsuit have waited too long to bring this issue up. For Generation Y google and the internet have just always been there so it is hard to separate the two. For us, Google is ubiquitous. It is all we know, it is all we've ever known. All I have to say is good luck to the fifty attorney generals bringing this case against the search engine giant that is Google.
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