Domination Is the Aim In a Market Economy

A May 2, 2024, headline from the New York Times reads: “The first tech monopoly trial of the modern internet era is concluding. The judge’s ruling is likely to set a precedent for other attempts to rein in the tech giants that hold sway over information, social interaction, and commerce.” The focal point of this case is Google’s dominance in the search engine market. The government alleges that Google engaged in unfair competition by paying Apple and other companies billions of dollars to have Google’s search engine automatically perform searches on smartphones and web browsers. In contrast, Google contends that consumers choose its search engine because it offers the best product. Google is not the only company to have been in the crosshairs of government antitrust regulators—Microsoft, Apple, Meta, and Amazon have been targeted in recent years. As the NYT article also reports, in 2021, Google allocated $26.3 billion towards securing its position as the default search engine on browsers such as Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox. This ensures that it is automatically chosen for users, as was highlighted during the trial. Read Full Article »