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https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/07/europe_showing_no_understanding_of_antitrust_fines_google_5b.htmlby Ed Straker
Europe is very good at regulating. Less so at creating. That's why Europe has fined Google five billion dollars for allegedly monopolistic behavior related to Google's Android operating system on phones and tablet devices while failing to produce continental alternatives of its own.
European authorities fined Google a record $5.1 billion on Wednesday for abusing its power in the mobile phone market and ordered the company to alter its practices, in one of the most aggressive regulatory actions against American technology giants and one that may force lasting changes to smartphones.
The European Union's antitrust fine of 4.34 billion euros was almost double the bloc's fine against Google last year over the company's unfair favoring of its own services in internet search results.
Google was fined for favoring its own services in search results? What order would the E.U. have search results come in? The determination of search results is an entirely arbitrary decision. There is no right or wrong way to do it. How can Google be fined for returning search results for which there are no objective standards?
"Google has used Android as a vehicle to cement the dominance of its search engine," said Margrethe Vestager, Europe's antitrust chief. "These practices have denied rivals the chance to innovate and compete on the merits. They have denied European consumers the benefits of effective competition in the important mobile sphere."
That's not true. Just because Google's search engine and Google's browser, Chrome, are set as the default devices on Android phones, that does not mean that users cannot download alternatives. Within five minutes of activating a Google phone, a user is free, without charge, to download any browser of his choice. Furthermore, a user can use any search engine he likes. It just so happens that the overwhelming majority of the public prefers to use Google, because it gives results people find most useful.
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