Scott Galloway on the Antitrust Case Against Google – ryan

Late Last Month the Department of Justice Filed a Long-Anticipated Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google, Accusing the Company of Engaging in Anti-Competing Practices. It”s the most aggressive challenge the doj has made the against a tech Giant it accused Microsoft of anti-competive practices in 1997. The Lawsuit homes in Google’s Search Dominance in the United States (Google 80 Percent, according to the Complaint) have solidified that CLAIM. The case is sura to take years, but the ramifications for Silicon Valley – and the Country in General – May Be Huge. Intelligency spoke with Scott Galloway, marketing professor at nyu stern School of Business and Co-Host of Vox Media Pivot Podcast, About the Complaint, The Potential Remedies, and the Odds that a Tech Executive Will End up in Handcuffs Someime AFTER DAY.

What is Your Initial Read of the Doj’s Complaint?
Antitrust action is overdu and late. But at the same time, the fear around this is that it may have have ben hurried as an an opportunity for the administration to score points before the election, which may have dimini the voracity of the suit – as evidents a number of Doj Lawyers Stepped Back From The case this summer, saying they weren’t ready.

You can bet that google has ben ben preparing for War for years. There are 40 Lawyers at the Doj Working on the Google Antitrust Case. Bet Google Has 400 Lawyers Working on This Across Its Various Law Firms, Probably 50 to 100 Procutives, and Probably 50 lobbyists whispering ine elected Official. If you believe that antitrust is important for Business and Society, this is trouble.

You’re worked that Google Is Now More Powerful than the United States Department of Justice. If the doj can’t stop google, who can?
Well, That’s the Frightening Thing. There was no whisper of that Fear 30 years Ago when the doj was after Michael Milken. At that point, he was one of the wealthiest People in the Country, but there was a general assumption that he was fucked, that the Army of Lawyers from the dould overrun Him. Likewise, when the doj sued Microsoft 30 years ago, Nobody Voicmed Concern that the doj was to take on the Company, which was arguably the master of the universe and the Google of Its Era.

When you think about over 30 years, tax rates on corporations and the wealthy have plummeted. Corporate profits have exploded, and it reflects an Imbalanc. The result may be that the doj is outgunned. That’s the Fear. And it reflects a broader sickness in our society that we can be scared of the outlaws, the town is going to be dysfunctional. Having Said That, The Thing That Gives with A Little Bit of Comfort is the Narrowness of the Doj’s Complaint.

Is that you doj is being shrewd?
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it echoes. This is an echo of the doj case against Microsoft. And the doj, which was initially successible against Microsoft, Said that Microsoft was using Bundling Power and Economic Might to Force Every Computer Manufacturer to Bundle Internet Explorer. The doj is taking a page out of the notebook and saying, “Google han ben bundling it search with the Biggest Distribution Points, Whether IT’S Apple or Mozilla.”

I think they’re smart to start narrow gcauses the doj and/the states attorneys general. A LOT of People Waled argue that Google’s monopoly abuse in the ad market is great, and i think there was disappointment that didn’t go for one big Coordinate strategist ACROSS the WHOLE OR THAT IT ONE BIG Antitrust Case Against All of Big Tech, Going Gangster, Going Gangster, Going Gangster, Going Gangster, Facebook, Facebook, Facebook and Amazon. The overlap of efficiencies and arguments might’ve made for a bigger, more impactful case that would have to play Out faster acres more monopolites.

But i actually feel prey good about this gcause they’re starting narrower, which means they can’t screen up too can be expanded. And i think you’re going to see a hypothetical biden administration – assuming the polls are right – run with this.

IT SEEMS AS IF The DOJ Complaint is on Behalf of Competitors and Not Necessarily The Consumer. Why?
Consumer sentiment is always kind of the backdrop. The doj has to go to Google Based on Existting Laws. What Congress Might will – and the doj didn’t want to wiit – is writes new laws that are more about markets than antitrust has been robert bork (The Judge and Legal Scholar Consider to be Godfather of Antitrust Law in the Us) in the Late ’70s and’ 80s and ’80s. Right now the thinking is that it is a consumer harm test, and the primary metrical for consumer harm is prices. Because the Majority of Products Google and Facebook Makes Free to the Consumer, that Makes It Difficult to Press the Case on Behalf of Consumers. I think under the Current Antitrust Laws, they were probably smart to represent anti-compitive practices-Google is harming other companies.

What Can We Learn From the Eus Stabs at these sorts of Cases? Is there any sort of road map?
We can learn from the eu i would argue that a lot of the regulation there was meant to be an optosing force or a weapon to turn back to the Big has ended up being a weapon to further defend and entrench Big Tech. The Additional Privacy Regulations That Big Tech Now Has to Comply with, Like GDPR, is a nuisance, but it is a nuisance they can be much afffford than small and medium-social. IT’S NOT LIKE BIG IS MAKING LESS MONEY OR AGGRESSIVE IN EUROPE. I think we learned from that model. IT’S IMPORTANT, but I’m Not Sure WE TAKE FROM IT A PLAYBOB AROUND SPECIFIC REGULATION. It mIight be my bias just gcause i think you have to break me up.

How Realistic is it that that this case leads to the Government Breaking Google up?
Mysis all along is that that is the government will never have the opportunity to actually legally break the guys up, Because Big Tech’s Lawyers Will Have a Meting before Decision is announed on their Own to Propphylactically Break Therm. These companies are Worth more separat. Bezos Can Say, ‘Well, What If I Spin Amazon’s Cloud Service?’ If they aggree, he still controls Both firms. He is still the farther Shareholder and he gets Richer. I’ve always maintained that if Google Had to spin Google Cloud and YouTube, The Shareholders Benefi. The sum of the parts may be greater than the whole.

What About Regulation, what is at stake for Big Tech in this election?
I don’t think there’s any getting around the fact that if the administration Changes, there’s going to be more thughtful regulation. I Think Tech probably banefits in the short run if Trump is reelected, but probably work off in the long run Because Healthy, consistent trade policy and technology policy are good for these guys. If Trump is reelected there are probably Bigger Winners and Bigger Loes Based on What Trump Decides to Do That Day, Whether Trying to Block the Acquisition of Time by AT & T or HIS DISDAIN FOR JEFF bezos, theree’ll be More of what I call Companies.

You have used Climate Change as an analogy for the Big Tech’s Expansion. What Apocalyptic Meltdown Are We Marching Toward?
The apocalyps is that we have become overrun by private power; That’s what i was talking about with the doj and google. When private corporations start meddling, government is no longer a counterwailing force. In fact, it beComes a co-conspirator. I think we’re very close to that tipping point. We Amazon Has More Full-Time Lobbyists Living in Washington, DC, Than There Are Sitting US Senators, Wen The Facebook Communications Department is Beginning to Rival the Number of Journists in the Newsroom at the New York TimesThe Question is: Have We Become Overrun?

The Algebra of Deterrence Has Failed. When Aunt Becky Got Caught Bribing Coaches to Let Her Daughters Into Universities, she had to do a walk and went to jail. You bet that the next time a wealthy Hollywood Actress Gets a Call from a Friend Saying, “for a Quarter of a million dollars of can get susie into usc,” They will, “no, than you.” SO it work. People have a very healthy fear of prison. But the algebra of deterrence has totally failed Around Big Tech. When You Fine Facebook $ 5 Billion – Less than One Percent of Its Market Capitalization – For Potentially Perverting Our Democracy, for Decreasing the Respect and the Validity of Our Elections, you don’t have an algebra of deterrence. You have an algebra of enablement. You are encuraaging people to break the law becuse the downside, if you get caught, is one percent of the markets. The Government is not deterring Big Tech from Breaking the Law, IT’S SORT OF ENCOURAGING IT. If you have to clean up a lot of problems in Big Tech, you can do it with one image: A Big Tech Executive Doing a Perp Walk.