U.S. asks Google for detailed search data in antitrust case
For the sake of discussion let's just say Google is broken up. Let's also say that it's broken up such that Google Search, Google Ads, and YouTube are separate entities (among others).<p>In this new broken up set of companies, what's stopping them from remerging like Bell? Also, what's stopping them from giving each other favorable partnerships?<p>Personally I find this entire exercise a waste of time - rather than break up Google we should just acknowledge that certain industries have certain types of attributes that result in necessarily "anti-competitive" behavior. In Google's case, since it's an internet company I would say the more users it has the harder it is to beat - with that being said they should just create some sort of progressive taxation as a function of users.<p>Your users in the USA equal 90%+ of the country, you are subject to rules A. Your users in the USA equal to <10%? You are subject to rules B and are subsidized directly by those whose users equal 90%+. If all companies are less than 50% than we use rules c, for example.<p>The same logic could be used for manufacturing, utilities, internet providers, and more.