The Real Truth Behind Google’s Empire
Google’s mission statement is a laughable facade, a desperate attempt to hide the ruthless tactics used to build its advertising empire. "Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful" is just a clever way of saying "dominate the world’s advertising and make it impossible for anyone to compete with us."
But the Department of Justice isn’t buying it. In a blistering antitrust trial, the DOJ has presented a mountain of evidence showing that Google has used its market power to crush competition and manipulate the ad tech industry to revolve around itself. And Google’s own executives have been forced to testify about the company’s sinister tactics.
One Google executive, Jonathan Bellack, admitted in an email that Google’s dominance in ad tech was akin to a bank owning the stock exchange. He mused about whether there was a "deeper issue with us owning the platform, the exchange, and a huge network." The issue is that Google has used its dominance to strangle competition, forcing publishers to use its products and preventing them from finding alternative solutions.
But Google’s argument is that it’s just a successful business that happens to have a large market share. It claims that tying its services together and buying competitors has allowed it to offer better products. But the DOJ argues that this is just a clever way of saying "we’re using our market power to lock out competitors and prevent innovation."
The real question is whether Google’s actions are illegal. The company’s executives have been accused of destroying evidence and using "privileged and confidential" labels to avoid a paper trail. And Google’s own witnesses have failed to plausibly explain why their documents deserved such labels.
The case is far from over, but one thing is clear: Google’s empire is built on shaky ground. The company’s executives know it, and the DOJ is determined to bring them to justice.
