Antitrust Practices and Market Power
Google Inc. was being investigated for showing preference for certain websites and making sure that no rival websites showed upon a person’s Google search. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is in charge of investigating any anticompetitive business practices. Google is a very know web search engine that many consumers use either through their personal smartphones or internet search engines. In 2012 Google purchased Motorola’s smartphone, which resulted in 24,000 patents and patent applications that led to an expansion of the investigation. Google spent $12.5 billion dollars last year to acquire Motorola Mobility and the 24 patents. Google was being investigated in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act due to their anticompetitive business practice. It is very well known that Google has great market power and in selecting only favored websites then they are abusing that power because they are not allowing competitors to a fair market. Due to the fact that Google has great market power it is looked at as a potential government monopoly because it has occurred back in the past where Google was known to give our government personal Google searches. The truth of the matter is that Google would be considered an oligopoly monopoly because although it is true that they hold a lot of market influence there are still other competitors such as Yahoo, Firefox, and Internet Explorer.
Monopolies and Oligopolies are not always considered bad, but for the most part they do become a negative thing for our society. Oligopolies are a good thing for a consumer when you have multiple companies competing because then the consumer has the opportunity to get products or services for a lower price. For examples, companies such as Dish, Directv, AT&T, and VerizonFios compete to offer services such as cable, internet, and at times telephone