FTC Investigating Google Over Google+

[djbaxter]

FTC Investigating Google for Possible Anti-Trust and Privacy Issues Over Google+
Daily SEO Tip Blog
Feb. 1, 2012

Internet Giant Google has been the subject of a recent suit filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as it alleges that Google?s recently launched Search Plus feature violates users? privacy and unfairly favors Google products over competition.

When Google launched the new ?Search Plus? weeks ago, competing social networks Facebook and Twitter immediately claimed that it unfairly favored Google+ as it integrates photos and posts from Google+ into their search results while deliberately ignoring similar relevant posts from both Facebook and Twitter.

Read more...

 

[bigcat1967]

I left my reply on their blog - it stated:

"I might be missing the boat here - so someone correct me if I'm wrong. Can't Google do whatever they want - and it sounds like they are favoring Google Plus - so what? It's their product.

I don't see why the FTC has to investigate every little thing..."

Anyone agree or disagree w/ me?

 

[djbaxter]

I do. When a company has as large a share of the search and advertising market as Google and they use that to tamper with organic search results to steer more customers to themselves and away from competitors, that's an anti-trust issue.

How is this different from the outcry when Microsoft bundled Internet Explorer with Windows? And that wasn't even a revenue item: Their competitors then were primarily other free browsers that anyone could download and install. What Google is doing is far more grievous.

 

[Ron Killian]

I guess it's just amazon that G seems to be trying to do everything, be everything and be everywhere.