- Google could face an antitrust lawsuit
- It is the Department of Justice that analyzes taking action against technology
- Its weight in the digital economy and dominance over user data, the main concerns
It is not surprising that companies such as Google, Apple, Facebook or Twitter face lawsuits or scrutiny from various governments due to their weight within the digital economy.
However, whenever the United States government is involved, it tends to draw attention to the impact and influence that Washington has worldwide.
The above comes to mind because in recent days it was announced that the Department of Justice (or Department of Justice) is expected to present its largest antitrust lawsuit since Microsoft and, this would be against Google.
It is an issue that has been in the interest of the US government body for at least a year due to its concern about the weight that companies such as Mountain View and Facebook have on the internet.
In this regard, a recent report by The New York Times states that the lawsuit against Google could be filed in the coming weeks and, as the main objective, the competition for its preponderance in digital advertising or its practices in search results.
But, the media also highlights a point that is worth considering and highlighting: Donald Trump’s concern about the influence of this platform and the like in the face of the final stretch towards the presidential elections to be held on November 3.
In this sense, the information followed for months relates to Google services such as the sale of advertising on its sites, the positioning of results in its search engine, Maps by the faculty that technology acquires by having access to the enormous amount of Data from users regarding their habits and frequency of consumption.
An unlikely outcome but one that would affect the consumer
In this sense, Jason Aten, from Inc. , recalls that this process is very similar to the lawsuit that was filed against Microsoft at the end of the 1990s and, although there was no greater ‘legal’ weight, it did conclude in which Redmond gave way in the browser wars, leaving the way almost clear for Google to dominate in this field (and by far).
But, in the case of Mountain View today the risk is high. To give us an idea, only in the second quarter of this year, Google entered 38 thousand 300 million dollars , of which 29 thousand 867 million were for advertising, one of the main sources of income.
The concern is that the fact that the search engine has a significant influence on the demand and supply of ads , which means that it has the ability to influence the prices of products and services.
Coupled with this, Google Maps and the ability to collect detailed consumer data are seen to give you an unfair advantage when it comes to targeted advertising.
Although imposing sanctions or changes in technology could somehow balance economic competition in the digital world, on the other hand, the specialist points out that it would also leave some points to debate.
On the one hand, this would imply serious impacts on the way people use the internet, Google is one of its main tools when searching for services or products, this without considering that advertisers would no longer benefit from the economies of scale that currently exist; that is, fewer ads is almost equivalent to fewer opportunities to reach customers.
Another point that stands out is that the main competitors in these areas are Amazon and Facebook, two other companies that are under observation by the authorities, in that sense the question is to regulate how and for the benefit of whom?
