Google antitrust investigation - more about unfair business practices

Submitted by Patrick Grote on Tue, 05/29/2007 - 6:35am.

This morning the news broke that Google will be investigated by the FTC concerning antitrust issues with their purchase of Double Click. It's an interesting development since Google doesn't usually come under government scrutiny.

Most people will assume this relates to having a monopoly on online advertising services, yet most will forget that antitrust issues can be raised concerning unfair business practices.

The web is the great equalizer for companies, right? We've all heard it, but the power Google wields is incredible. Still, there is nothing on the outside that shows this would be anti-competitive. Just looking at the latest Hit Wise report shows that Yahoo properties still rule the overall traffic for the news segment. This means competitiors have an equal chance for the eyeballs that companies crave on the internet.

The real hangup on this for Google might be unfair business practices. This is a lesser known component of the antitrust regulations in the United States, but it's one where Google might be vulnerable.

Anyone who has dealt with the customer service and processes involving Adwords and Adsense understand that there is a Wizard of Oz component to dealing with them. Behind the curtain, Google has never explained what happens, how it happens or why it happens. This was fine when Google had many large competitors, but it's a tough road to follow when they become one of two large online advertising presences.

The problem with this approach is that customers of their Adwords and Adsense products have no recourse to challenge perceived unfair business practices due to the confidentiality of the Google processes. Imagine you're a customer that feels you've been on the tail end of this unfair business practices. You have no information, no real documentation of what you suspect is the issue and no ability to resolve these issues. Interesting.

Could it be that the FTC is going to look at unfair business practices instead of the monopoly angle? I don't know, but I do know that Google is extremely good at adapting to changing markets. Their past history shows they almost always make the best decision in terms of the user experience, so I'm confident any changes that need to be made are already underway.