The end of Google as we know it?
The search giant returns to court for a second antitrust trial that could reshape the internet
You’ve probably heard — in this newsletter even — about the big problems facing journalism today. It’s harder than ever to fund journalism and for journalists to get paid, and newsrooms across the country have shuttered or labor under the threat of imminent closure.
While new times certainly demand new business models (lots of journalists have, as you know, started subscription businesses lately), a great many of the media’s difficulties stem in part from the way advertising has moved print to online, and while the shift away from classifieds to services like Craigslist was a big part of the initial shift, Google’s command of a vast ad tech monopoly — and the company’s use of that power to limit competition — has done a whole lot of the damage.
And that’s one of the reasons Google is returning to court this week to face a second antitrust trial — part of a robust effort against corporate consolidation under the Biden administration.
According to the courts, Google is already a monopolist. Last month, Judge Amit Mehta found that Google had indeed been illegally maintaining a monopoly in its core search business (you can…er…Google that for more).
While the DOJ is still mulling over how to proceed in fixing the problem (the company might be broken up, or be required to spin off some units), it’s clear that some change is ahead in the structure of the company that’s shaped the way so many people have used the internet over the last two-and-a-half decades.
But search is only part of the story. Google makes most of its revenue from advertising, so while a lot of that happens behind the scenes, what the Justice Department is asking in this second case, which comes before Judge Leonie M. Brinkema today, is potentially just as big as in the search case.
This suit (brought by the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, spearheaded by antitrust crusader Jonathan Kanter, along with 17 state’s attorneys general) looks to break up Google’s advertising business, a move that could potentially reshape the online information landscape much as the company’s establishment of monopoly power over online ad tech did in the first place.
Should the DOJ triumph, it’s unclear whether a democratized advertising market might lead to a revitalization of the news business. There’s some intriguing evidence from Australia, which moved to let news organizations bargain more effectively with ad platforms. But we — along with everyone else who has any sort of stake in the future of communication — will be watching the case closely to see what’s possible if the grip of consolidated corporate power over the way we distribute and consume information online is loosened, even just a bit.
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I have been encouraged by the Biden Administration resurgence of anti-trust legislation to go after some of the biggest corporations in the US. Obviously, this will only continue if Harris-Walz get into the White House. If so, I'd also love to see them go after the huge meat producers who also operate in a monopoly and keep prices high.