BNET: "7 Reasons Google Looks Like a Monopoly"

Interesting read in BNET last week from Jim Edwards, former managing editor of Adweek and a former Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University’s business and Journalism schools. Edwards highlights “evidence that Google abuses its dominant market position to harm consumers and restrict competition” with the following seven reasons:

1. Google discriminates against certain businesses.
2. Discriminating against certain businesses is wrong even if there is competition.
3. Consumers believe Google is a public right of way.
4. Google does actually manipulate its search and advertising rankings.
5. The market has already seen anticompetitive practices.
6. The FTC’s power to police “unfair or deceptive acts” is broad.
7. The European Union is already investigating Google.

The BNET post comes on the heels of the American Antitrust Institute’s Feb. 18 release of a white paper that concludes “Google/ITA Merger Could Lead to Unregulatable Monopoly.” Edwards lays out a convincing case about Google’s broad abuse of its monopoly power. For now, the Justice Department can prevent Google from furthering that abuse to the travel sector by challenging its proposed acquisition of ITA Software.