I think as individual businesses they would have been within their right to set whatever rules they wanted.
However, when they conspired together it is no different then when the Oil or transportation barons of the late 1800 conspired to put others out of business.
We are in new territory but I believe they are going to regret the decision to become political and not remain a neutral in the cultural war.
I think as individual businesses they would have been within their right to set whatever rules they wanted.
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First of all, that is a sentiment, not legal grounds. If google set whatever rules they wanted that negatively affected public safety, such as favoring results that promoted the use of opioids and methamphetamines, I would guess they’d be in a lot of hot water.
Secondly, this seems to be based on anti-trust concerns. Not an easy type of case to win, at all! However, I believe it has merits. If you have one (or a very small number) who are gatekeepers to what equates to a public utility, you’ve got big problems.
The big leap here, for a lot of people, is equating influence on the flow of information with a public utility. If you don’t see it that way, you’re not alone. In fact, you’re probably like most people. However, most people just want to turn things on when they need them, and don’t much care about how they work, as long as they do, and just because they are getting search results back from google, it doesn’t mean they are being served in their own best interests, because they have no possible way to determine how they wouldn’t be.
The reason I believe anti-trust approach will fail is because, if we shut down Google today, people would still be able to search the internet. If we shut down Twitter and Facebook, the vast majority of people who use them would still be able to find a way to set up new communication with the people they formerly used those service for.
The real problem here, in my opinion, is transparency. Google can hide their algorithms based on Trade Secret laws. Twitter and Facebook can bury in bureaucracy their methods for taking exact control over their content away from users, and nobody is doing anything to stop it.
anti-Trust action should focus on “The Cloud”.
Could American Airlines refuse service yup republicans? Could Verizon secretly block calls to GOP congressmen?
They did this in 2016 to try to influence the election. That alone could be seen as election interference.
Apple, Twitter, Google, Instagram collude to defeat Trump
http://observer.com/2016/08/tech-companies-apple-twitter-google-and-instagram-collude-to-defeat-trump/
Not if they are a publicly traded company and offer their stock as an investment in as an ‘internet service provider’ while, in fact, are a content provider that manipulates, censors and shifts its focus on one political spectrum versus a another. They violate the terms of their stock offering and violate terms of free trade.