Google Posts
FTC Chairwoman: Google’s Voluntary Agreement Not Precedent; Search Bias Pro-competitive Though It Harms Competitors
Thursday, April 18th, 2013
Many were disappointed with the Federal Trade Commission’s and Google’s unprecedented voluntary agreement in January on advertising data and the “scraping” or excerpting of content from sites like Yelp. Now, it seems, the chairwoman of the FTC is apparently dismissing the agreement as a one-time deal that other companies should not expect. Additionally, the newly Read more »
Video: FairSearch Panel “Lessons From the Google-FTC Settlement”
Friday, April 12th, 2013
On Wednesday, FairSearch convened a panel, “Lessons from the Google-FTC Settlement,” in Washington, D.C. as thousands gathered to attend the American Bar Association’s Spring antitrust section meeting. More than 125 ABA meeting attendees; consumer advocates; state Attorney General staff from Ohio, Texas, and Tennessee; officials from the FTC and DOJ; and competition authorities from the Read more »
“Google’s Dance” Creates Perceptions That Don’t Match Reality
Thursday, March 28th, 2013
While Google is overwhelmingly an advertising company, consumers see Google as “an information company, pure and simple,” writes Robert Epstein in “Google’s Dance,” a new opinion piece in TIME. Epstein is a Ph.D. research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology. The gulf between Google users’ perceptions and the reality is “troubling,” Epstein writes, Read more »
What Google Isn’t Saying in “How Search Works”
Friday, March 8th, 2013
Last week, Google launched “How Search Works,” an interactive website that explains “the entire life of a search query” on the company’s sites, though scrolling through the site reveals that Google’s site leaves a few important things out of its explanation. Search Bias The site describes search results pages that can take a variety of Read more »
‘Enhanced AdWords’ Will Drive up All Google Ad Prices
Friday, February 8th, 2013
Google announced “enhanced AdWords” on Wednesday, by default forcing advertisers to make combined bids on keywords ads for mobile & desktop. The change makes it much more difficult, if not impossible, for advertisers to target keywords differently on mobile, tablet, and smartphone platforms. So, why did Google make this shift? “Google Acts to Raise Mobile-Ad Read more »
What to Look for in Google’s Offer to the European Commission
Friday, February 1st, 2013
European Commission Vice President Joaquín Almunia said only weeks ago that the key to Google’s abuse of dominance is that the search giant, with more than 90 percent market share, is diverting traffic in the way that it presents its own services. “They are monetizing this kind of business, the strong position they have in Read more »
New York Times Editorial: Google’s Bias Could “Result in Fewer Choices for Consumers”
Monday, January 7th, 2013
In a series of reported stories and a strong unsigned editorial, The New York Times has vividly illustrated the faults with the Federal Trade Commission’s disappointing ruling in its antitrust investigation of Google. In a Jan. 4 editorial, the Times said the ruling “does not completely settle the question of whether the company, which is Read more »
Does Google Harm Consumers? Bloomberg Editors Say ‘Yes’
Thursday, January 3rd, 2013
Today the Federal Trade Commission issued the disappointing decision to pass on compelling Google to end its anti-competitive search manipulation practices that favor the prominent display of its own products. Rather, the FTC and Google agreed for the search giant to end other anti-competitive practices, largely through a voluntary agreement that lacks the kind of Read more »
FairSearch: FTC Settlement Not the Last Word, Premature
Thursday, January 3rd, 2013
The following is a statement from FairSearch: The FTC’s decision to close its investigation with only voluntary commitments from Google is disappointing and premature, coming just weeks before the company is expected to make a formal and detailed proposal to resolve the four abuses of dominance identified by the European Commission, first among them biased Read more »
FTC Must Protect America’s Consumers, Innovators
Monday, December 17th, 2012
A statement from FairSearch.org: “It’s vital that the FTC live up to its mission of ‘protecting America’s consumers’ by taking a strong, legally binding enforcement action to permanently end Google’s biased display of search results and other harmful abuses of monopoly power that threaten to reduce consumer choice and innovation in Internet services. Enforcement authorities should not Read more »
