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In response to
"Showing a fundamental lack of understanding of what companies like Google and Facebook do. -- nm"
by
Mop
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It understands what a monopoly is though. Google has the best search engine, which it leverages to drive advertising
Posted by
Roger More (aka RogerMore)
Mar 8 '19, 08:46
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Now, whether Google is a monopoly or in competition and whether the status quo is better than breaking them up, is a different question.
Google has the best search engine, and it basically has monopoly power on search. Everyone googles, no one bings.
It provides its search engine at no $ cost to the user - so, consumers benefit.
But it can use the data is has on user preference to give advertisers better access to its users, and guide their consumer decisions to what makes the most $$ for Google, rather than what makes the most sense for the consumer. If businesses want access to their consumers, they have to pay Google. So Google can impose higher costs on consumers (who might pay more for a product) and producers (who have to pay Google to get their product in front of consumers).
But then while Google has a monopoly on search, it doesn't on data about internet users - FB, Amazon, etc all have mounds of data on their users. So Google is in competition for advertising $$$.
So the question of companies like Google and FB are monopolies or in competition does not have a black-and-white answer. But I don't think it's in question that they have a lot of market power which benefits those companies, and impose costs (as well as some benefits) on consumers and producers.
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