Confirmation that Google is a monopoly frames the federal government’s continuing attempts to regulate social media and search engines in a new light.Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Blayne Haggart is an associate professor of political science at Brock University. His latest book, with Natasha Tusikov, is The New Knowledge: Information, Data and the Remaking of Global Power (Routledge, 2023).
The Monday finding by a U.S. court that Google has an illegal monopoly in online searches is immensely clarifying. The case focused on how Google paid billions to ensure its search engine is the default in new cellphones and gadgets. But it underscores a wider issue.
The ruling reinforces what those of us who study online platforms have always taken as a fundamental fact: The desire and ability to monopolize markets largely defines what it means to be a platform.
More concretely and closer to home, confirmation that Google is a monopoly also frames the federal government’s continuing attempts to regulate social media and search engines in a new light. To be blunt, it fully vindicates the government’s regulatory approach with respect to its legislation regulating online culture, online news and,........