Amid the Department of Justice's big tech antitrust lawsuit, a former US Congresswoman from Virginia says the American public's preference for Google does not warrant accusations of a monopoly.
"Internet users see Google as the best search engine, and they overwhelmingly prefer it. American consumers’ strong preference for Google’s search engine does not transform this incredibly successful product into an antitrust violation," former US Congresswoman Barbara Comstock said in a USA Today opinion piece.
In her opinion piece, Comstock says that during the September 12 trial, the Department of Justice (DOJ) alleges that Google has used its partnerships with manufacturers of mobile devices, computers, and browsers to illegally stifle competition within the online search market. According to the DOJ, these collaborations allowed Google to designate its search engine as the primary service on a significant number of consumer electronic devices, including smartphones. This practice has consequently deterred users from investigating alternative search engines, including Bing, DuckDuckGo, and others.
Google is overwhelmingly favored by internet users as the top search engine, Comstock argues. She contends that this fact does not inherently translate into an antitrust violation. However, while President Biden's "antitrust enforcers claim they know better than consumers," Comstock says they are potentially transforming antitrust law into a mechanism to safeguard government-favored businesses. She adds that historically, antitrust law has aimed to protect consumers rather than competitors.
Comstock says that market competition across American industries typically results in better products and services for consumers. This allows the market, not the government, to dictate which products thrive, Comstock says, adding that a preference for one company's superior product does not constitute an antitrust violation. The DOJ's own expert conceded that Google remains immensely popular, with consumers voluntarily choosing Google as their default search engine "more than 90% of the time," even in Europe, where users are offered a choice of default search engines on new phones.
The claim for consumer preference for Google is echoed numerous times in the comment section of a recent New York Times column piece. The article, which details the alleged challenges users face when attempting to switch to alternative search engines, received backlash from readers who not only emphasized the ease with which they can switch search engines but also expressed their preference for Google over other search options. "Google search results are superior in almost every way to the other search engines," one reader said. "Google has developed a wonderful search engine and you really are free to opt for an inferior one if you wish to," another individual expressed.
Comstock, a former congresswoman and delegate from Virginia, according to USA Today, currently holds a senior advisory position at the national law firm Baker Donelson. She also serves as an advisor to NetChoice, a trade association that includes Google among its members.
