Is Google a monopoly? Depends on who you ask. If you google the term monopoly, the first information that comes up is the game Monopoly, so to be more specific one would have to enter "definition of monopoly" to begin to deconstruct if Google is a monopoly or a "platform" as they claim.
According to Investopedia, a monopoly is, "when a company and its product offerings dominate one sector or industry." They go on to further explain, "The term monopoly is often used to describe an entity that has total or near-total control of a market."
In an article posted by Dr. Joseph Mercola on the website Organicconsumers.org, Dr. Mercola claims, "Google is undoubtedly one of the largest and clearest monopolies in the world. In fact, the company monopolizes several different markets, including search and advertising. Bing, its closest search competitor, has just 2 percent of the market — hardly a significant threat to Google’s 90 percent.1 Google also controls about 60 percent of the global advertising revenue on the internet."
How dangerous is this much power in the hands of a few? Most people believe that Google is just a search engine, and that if the majority of people just stop using Google search engine, then Google will up and vanish.
This is not the case. Google owns gmail, google maps, google search engine, Android, YouTube, and AdSense to name a few. The company has a number of organizations dealing with the technology sector; that can possibly affect the life of every person with the exception of those living without any technology in the world today.
With that kind of power, one must question their motives. Jen Gennai, head of responsible innovation for Google, was recently caught by Project Veritas discussing Google in its attempt to "prevent the next Trump situation."
What are the possible consequences of such a behemoth left unchecked? For starters, it is completely possible and plausible that this organization can alter its algorithms to show only what it considers to be morally just. Thus depicting a new type of "morality."
There have been several cases where Google through its company YouTube have altered algorithms to make conservative and Christian sites and opinions less appealing. They have demonetized such sites as Prager U an educational site, Mark Dice, and comedian Steven Crowder.
Questions to ask yourself are; Should Google lose its protection status under section 230 of the law that claims they are a platform, such as a town hall while acting as an editor? Is Google openly violating by selectively editing their search engine to create an environment that dictates the morality of people searching the internet for specific material?
Most importantly, if Google has the ability to interfere with elections, not just in the United States, but world wide, should they be broken up into smaller divisions? These are important discussions to have not just within the United States but world wide.
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