Two U.S. senators fired off a letter to the Federal Trade Commission this week calling for an investigation into what they allege as bias by Google in favor of its own products and services in search results.
Senators Herb Kohl (D., Wis.) and Mike Lee (R., Utah), both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, claim that by consistently pushing search results related to sites and services it owns over those owned and operated by others, Google is "undermining free and fair competition among ecommerce websites."
In the five-page letter (PDF) to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, Kohl and Lee question whether Google -- which currently owns approximately 65 percent of the search market here in the U.S., according to the latest figures available from comScore -- may be acting in an anti-competitive manner with respect to antitrust laws and the FTC Act.
Among the search engine results cited by the pair as ranking higher are those related to products and services delivered by Google Travel, Google Finance, Google News, Google Maps, Google Product Search, Google Flight Search and YouTube. The senators question whether Google can be an unbiased general, or "horizontall," search engine while owning such Web-based businesses from which it derives substantial advertising revenues.
In the letter, the senators cite one of Google's top executives admitting in a 2007 subcommittee hearing that the company did indeed coddle its own websites. The executive, Marissa Mayer, now Google's VP of Local, Map and Location Services, testified that when it rolled out Google Finance, "We did put the Google link first. We do all the work for the search page and all these other things, so we do put it first," adding that this practice is company policy.
In the subcommittee's latest hearing, which took place in September of this year, Jeremy Stoppelman, co-founder and CEO of Yelp testified "Google is no longer in the business of sending people to the best sources of information on the Web. It now hopes to be a destination site itself for one vertical market after another... It would be one thing if these efforts were conducted on a level playing field, but the reality is they are not."
The senators' complaint is that Google shouldn't be allowed to promote its own products and services above those of competitors like Yelp, calling it a conflict of interest. They concur that nobody can compete -- big and small businesses alike -- with Google, making regulation a logical step.
The letter concludes that the FTC should take the reins in an effort to determine if any antitrust laws have been violated or if harm has come to other businesses as a result of Google's practices. I'll be closely following this development with a promise to get back to you with ensuing details.
How have Google's self-promotional tactics affected your business? Leave a comment and let us know.
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Comments:
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Absolutely retarded. How dare a company promote their own products through their own service they give away?
Oops! It is unbelievable. We need to stop them. Thanks to Mikal for sharing this post.
I agree, this is another attempt from the government to control commerce and capitalism. The simple fact of the matter is this. Google provides many free apps and services, such as Google Maps and Ratings, to businesses as well as advertising for those willing to pay. If you want to use their services and you believe that it would be profitable to do so, then great, but if Google wants to put some of their products up front as a trade off, then its their choice. I have not read their policy on advertising, but I do believe that if they have not already done so, they should stipulate that their products and services may come before organic search results or paid advertising. Even with that being said, if people are not looking for a Google product or service, they will simply move on to the search result or advertisement.
Leave it to government to try and destroy commerce. Here Google creates the "Kleenex" of their industry, and their reward is that they cannot use their self-created leverage for their own benefit? I would understand if they were doing something sneaky, but good lord, they are branding their own products using their own branded product. That their search engine is huge should make no difference - it is free, and there are plenty of competitors should we feel "duped". How about these idiots balance a budget before they venture out into destroying commerce?
It is wrong for the government to tell a company how to run its business, but its also wrong for Google to present itself as a destination for pure search when it isn't. Anyone who believes search engines don't give preferential treatment to advertisers is a fool. Yahoo is just as good a search engine as Google, but Google has mastered giving away free stuff so that people don't feel so invaded when their email is being read (gmail), or these search engine results are skewed (adwords).
Google suggesting Google products? This must be stopped. We need to make an example of them before McDonalds gets the idea and goes off suggesting Bigmacs and Mcnuggets.
Do you pay for Google mail?
Google is a business making a product. Should apple.com start advertising android phones to make everything fair?
So the Government wants to dictate how a private corporation should develop its software? It's google.com not google.gov.
Well, this is not the only thing. Google reads email on their Gmail service and provide Ads on the side that are relevant to email content. Isn't this unethical?!
That's true to an extent but there might be various factors to consider 1)It's own Brand:-Being a successful search engine,I don't Google doing any wrong bcz it's their own product and they can do however they want. 2) Should not effect the Competition:-should be able to play game but sportive game..!
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