Saturday, November 22, 2014

European Parliament Call for the Breakup of Google

The European parliament is poised to call for a break-up of Google, reports FT.

A draft motion seen by the FT says that “unbundling [of] search engines from other commercial services” should be considered as a potential solution to Google’s dominance. It has the backing of the parliament’s two main political blocs, the European People’s Party and the Socialists.

According to FT, German center-right and center-left politicians are the dominant force in the legislature and German corporate champions, from media groups to telecoms, are among the most vocal of Google’s critics.

The European parliament has no formal power to split up companies, but has increasing influence on the commission, which initiates all EU legislation. The commission has been investigating concerns over Google’s dominance of online search for five year.

Positively bizarre, I can't think of one service that Google provides that isn't available by many other firms.

To the degree Google has a large share of any market, it is only because their products are better than others. The ability to switch providers in the main areas that Google operates, from email to search to adsense, is almost instantaneous.

Google declined to comment to FT. However, executives at the company are understood to be furious at the political nature of the motion and only became aware of the document in the past couple of days, after an MEP contacted Google for advice on its meaning

The draft resolution’s final text will be agreed early next week, ahead of a vote, which is expected on Thursday.

2 comments:

  1. There are many other options other than Google. All you have to do is Google it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Google should call for the breakup of the EU.

    ReplyDelete