Search and destroy: more antitrust allegations against Google

As reported by the Wall Street Journal last Thursday, Google faces a potential civil antitrust investigation from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for practices that include privileging certain search results based on how much a company is willing to pay for such ‘advertising.’ This lack of transparency in Google’s advertising business practices, along with the company’s habit of swiftly buying up and appropriating competitors, have been characterized as anticompetitive behaviour. While the fact that Google is accused of engaging in illegal, and at least unethical, business practices through its essential monopoly on web search might not surprise political economists of the commercial internet, the case against Google will be consequential for antitrust policy in the digital age. And more broadly, the accusations against Google highlight how the overarching commercial architecture of web space further undermines the last vestiges of notions like ‘democratization,’ ‘neutrality,’ and ‘free competition’ online.