this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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[–] [email protected] 209 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I wonder how long it'll be before google gets sued for their anti-competitive behavior.

[–] [email protected] 114 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Oh I imagine the papers are being filed as we speak, because this is blatantly illegal.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Well you typically need standing in order to file a lawsuit, who would do it? Mozilla are probably the only ones. Why would this cause them to do it when past similar practices haven’t?

[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago

Europe will step in as usual

[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Perhaps YouTube premium subscribers would have standing as a class action, since Google is materially worsening the experience of a paid product if you don’t use their browser

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I personally don’t think an argument like that would hold up. A company making its service worse in itself isn’t going to win court cases, and this is hardly the worst example of a tech company making its products worse unless you use more of their software.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Perhaps not, but it’s not just the act of making the service worse, it’s doing so measurably to paying customers ONLY when using a competitors product. With those caveats, I think you could at least argue standing. Winning is a whole other battle.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

How would Mozilla finance a court case against google though?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Microsoft, Mozilla org, maybe apple

EFF or government

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

On what standing though? Mozilla potentially has standing, and if the government finds that google is a monopoly, then the government could have standing, but nobody else.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Users affected by it, Mozilla, any other company that comes to support Mozilla, watchdog groups like the EFF...

It can also be brought by attorneys general and governmental regulators, the FCC and FTC might have a bit to say about it...

Antitrust suits aren't civil cases, I don't think, so "having standing" is a bit different

I'm not a lawyer though so I could be way off base, but the antitrust cases I've been aware of I don't think they were brought by companies but by government agencies

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Isn't Mozilla a non profit? I don't they can sue for anything along the lines of hurting profits to the company.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Can't you sue for loss of income regardless?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

They do have a for-profit subsidiary that potentially could though

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Of course they can. If the word profit is confusing you replace it with returns or finances.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Google funds then I'm pretty sure..

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

What law are they breaking? Not trying to defend Google or anything, just curious what law is blatantly being broken here because I don't know of one

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's an anti competition law, they cannot penalize you for using a competitor service. This would be like getting fined by McDonald's because I went to Taco Bell.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

see FTC anticompetitive-practices

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Blatantly anticompetitive behavior where you (ab)use your dominance in one sector (i.e. YouTube) to choke out competition in another (i.e. make it slow on competing browsers) is illegal in the US and the EU, at the very least. I don't know the specific laws or acts in play, but that's the sort of thing that triggers antitrust lawsuits

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago

It is being currently being sued by Epic Games for Anti-Trust behavior. Google offered millions of dollars to Epic so that Fortnite would be available in the Play Store and not in Epic's own store.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

Been there, done that, and came on top.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

They are already in one anti-trust trial for search engine shenanigans.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Cost of doing business

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Trying to convince people to use your product by crippling other people's stuff really needs to stop. Did they not do an analysis on the issue of diminishing returns?