of Frank McPherson
A fair question about Google being a monopoly, what is the consumer harm? Is the ruling changing the purpose of antitrust law in the U.S.? Perhaps the question about harm comes more in to play during the remedy phase?#
The antitrust ruling against Google describes how Google benefits from being a monopoly, but Om Malik convincingly describes how Google's monopoly is it's undoing. Thinking back to the Microsoft antitrust case in the 90s, I can't help but wonder whether going through that helped Microsoft in the long run as it seems to be in a better position today than expected. An article in The Atlantic points out that how the U.S. handles antitrust is too reactive and therefore doesn't prevent harm that is described in the ruling, instead there ought to be greater scrutiny and blockage of mergers and acquisitions.#

© 2024 Frank McPherson

Last update: Thursday August 8, 2024; 1:24 PM EDT.