Pichai Says Google 'Pro-Competitive,' Sees Vibrant Tech Market

Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Google parent Alphabet, defended the internet-search giant against claims that it is anticompetitive, citing established rivals in the digital advertising market and upstart mobile app TikTok as examples of robust competition in technology. From a report: Pichai made the remarks late Tuesday at the Code Conference in Los Angeles. He said the company is "pro-competitive" and named companies including Apple and Microsoft as competitors in the advertising business and TikTok as a rival in the video space. He said that YouTube Shorts, Google's TikTok competitor, is off to a "great start."

"Competition in tech is hyper-intense," Pichai said. The rise of TikTok "shows there is competition in the space" and "how vibrant this market is" compared to years past. The US Justice Department sued Google in 2020, alleging the company dominates the search market in violation of antitrust laws. The company is the most popular search engine and only has limited competition in that business from Microsoft Bing and Yahoo Search. The DOJ is also preparing to sue Google on claims it illegally dominates the digital advertising market, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg last month. "Do I wake up and worry about all the stuff that's coming down?" Pichai said Tuesday. "Absolutely." Still, he said, "my guidance to our teams is to be respectful and engage the way we have in Europe" and "engage constructively through the process."

Of course he does

[wakeboarder]

Because he's associated with Google, I'd trust the people who aren't

Umm Yea

[AppXprt]

Not sure if a single app is going to be example enough to justify, "Google isn't dominating EVERYTHING, stealing Intellectual Property or destroying smaller businesses." Also, I wouldn't call Google and Apple dominating EVERYTHING as a "Vibrant Market."

I'm way way less concerned about tech competition

[rsilvergun]

That I am about competition in places like grocery stores, apartment buildings and purchasing existing single-family homes. It's easy to focus on tech because left and right are kind of annoyed at them because of the last election and the things they did. But in terms of actually benefiting working class Americans like us focusing on competition in our daily commodities would have way more bang for the buck.

And yes even if you own your house you want to do something about rising home prices because people still need a place to live and those people are going to raise the prices of the things you buy to pay rent that goes into the pockets of big companies like Black Rock buying up all the apartments and single family homes. That money comes directly out of your pocket when Walmart's and McDonald's have to raise their wages so their employees aren't homeless.

The 800lb gorilla just farted

[Virtucon]

It's funny to watch a tech titan say there is no problem when his own company is powerful enough to sway elections and push competitors out of the market. When a company gets to that level of power, it needs to be well monitored and periodically dug into for inspection.
There are plenty of things Google has done that are anti-competitive, I can't have Android without their Play Store, or a host of other add-ons that I don't want but are there to push ads, track and monitor me. Sure, they allow in some cases for you to opt out but they don't make it obvious in some cases where you go and change the setting.

Re:

[omnichad]

They don't give ME Android for free. I bought my phone (from Google). But it's not my problem that they don't charge licensing fees to OEMs and open sourced the base OS.

Re:The 800lb gorilla just farted

[Virtucon]

They don't give anything away for free, [kamilfranek.com] it's foolish to think otherwise.

Conditions that phone manufacturers need to comply with to get a free license to install Android with Play:

The manufacturer needs to include all other apps like YouTube, Gmail, Maps Photo, and mainly Search and Chrome.
They need to make Google Search default
Manufacturers have to push Google apps to a prominent place on the home screen
and also, a manufacturer that wants to use Android phones with Google Play cannot use other modified versions of bare Android on different devices.

This is called a "Big Lie"...

[gweihir]

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

Unfortunately, on many people this immoral approach works.

FTFY

[jenningsthecat]

"Do I wake up and worry about all the stuff that's coming down?" Pichai said Tuesday. "Absolutely."

"Do I wake up and worry about all the stuff that's coming down?" Pichai said Tuesday. "Hell no - don't be silly. I'm made of Teflon, I'm rich beyond my wildest dreams, and I can get another high-profile job in a heartbeat."

Worry? The guy might as well be Alfred E. Neuman.

Both can be true

[Tony Isaac]

A company the size of Google can be both anti-competitive and pro-competitive at the same time. When it comes to some of its less-popular services such as airline reservations and domain name registrations, it can be pro-competitive. But when it comes to app stores, it is very much anti-competitive. This is evidenced by its insistence on 30% commissions, a level that can only be achieved in a captive market.

iv got a theory

[conorjh]

ad revenue is what incentivises a large bulk of the shit on the internet. i never hated microsoft, but iv come to despise google.

Re: iv got a theory

[todmanic]

You must not have had to use much MS software if you don't hate them.

Pichai needs to join Monty Python too

[Walt Dismal]

This guy needs to do stand-up in comedy clubs.

Competing App Stores

[bill_mcgonigle]

Great. Allow competing App Stores to do background updates. Like F-Droid can do with root. But without root.

It's just another permission declaration, so do it.

Or stop pretending.

Google is a monopoly

[BrendaEM]

Google is a monopoly, that makes too much money to be below-the-law(tm).