Reuters: Exclusive: Google offers to treat rivals equally via auction – sources. “Google has already been fined a record 2.4 billion euros ($2.9 bln) by the European Commission for favoring its own service, and could face millions of euros in fresh fines if it fails to treat rivals and its own service equally. In its proposal submitted to the European Commission on Aug. 29, the company said it would allow competitors to bid for any spot in its shopping section known as Product Listing Ads, the sources said.” I was so taken aback at this proposed “solution” that I started wondering if Google was trying to troll the entire EU.
antitrust
Ars Technica: Twitter rival Gab sues Google over app store rejection
Ars Technica: Twitter rival Gab sues Google over app store rejection. “Gab, a Twitter rival popular with the Breitbart crowd, is suing Google. The lawsuit, filed in Pennsylvania federal court on Thursday, argues that Google violated antitrust laws when it rejected Gab’s app from its Android app store.”
Wired: Yelp Claims Google Broke Promise To Antitrust Regulators
Wired: Yelp Claims Google Broke Promise To Antitrust Regulators. “YELP IS ACCUSING Google, its longtime rival in local search, of scraping photographs of local businesses from Yelp and other sites for use in Google search results, violating promises that Google made in 2012 as part of a settlement to end a Federal Trade Commission investigation.”
The Telegraph: Google launches fightback against record £2.2bn Brussels fine
The Telegraph: Google launches fightback against record £2.2bn Brussels fine. “Google will launch a fightback against Brussels this week when the company lodges an appeal against its record monopoly abuse fine. The internet giant is expected to file the response to the European Commission’s €2.4bn (£2.2bn) penalty on Monday, the deadline for submitting an appeal.”
CNBC: Google still a ‘wonderful’ company, says EU’s top antitrust enforcer after $2.7 billion fine
CNBC: Google still a ‘wonderful’ company, says EU’s top antitrust enforcer after $2.7 billion fine . “Google is still very much a force for good and has many positive attributes, according to the EU’s competition commissioner who slapped the tech giant with a $2.7 billion fine earlier this year.”
Washington Post: Google is coming after critics in academia and journalism. It’s time to stop them.
Washington Post: Google is coming after critics in academia and journalism. It’s time to stop them.. “About 10 years ago, Tim Wu, the Columbia Law professor who coined the term network neutrality, made this prescient comment: ‘To love Google, you have to be a little bit of a monarchist, you have to have faith in the way people traditionally felt about the king.’ Wu was right. And now, Google has established a pattern of lobbying and threatening to acquire power. It has reached a dangerous point common to many monarchs: The moment where it no longer wants to allow dissent.”
Search Engine Land: Google says it will offer antitrust remedy to EU to avoid further penalties
Search Engine Land: Google says it will offer antitrust remedy to EU to avoid further penalties. “Google parent Alphabet is preparing to comply with EU regulators’ demand that it no longer ‘favor its own content’ in shopping search results. Google must propose a solution that will offer ‘equal treatment’ to Google’s shopping rivals by Tuesday at midnight.”
