Not even Google can have it all.
Shortly before launching their Initial Public Offering in 2004, the founders of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, distilled their mission to a pithy: “Don’t be evil.” This high-minded statement was meant to position the company as a public good, one that put society’s benefits over short-term gains.
I think we can safely say that we’ve moved on since then. Early altruism gave way to expansionism. The company’s original guiding light morphed into a more vaporous “Do the right thing” when Google became a subsidiary of a larger holding company, Alphabet, in 2015.
The mighty search engine built a not-always-transparent but highly profitable programmatic ad buying and placement exchange. It now leads in the development and adoption of artificial intelligence — the combination of which has drawn the attention of competitors, courts and digital marketers alike.
Like the great monopolies before it — Standard Oil, AT&T, Microsoft — Google may be facing divestment of its properties or some other reconfiguration to shrink its financial footprint and market domination. As you might have heard, the courts have ruled that the company maintains an illegal monopoly in the online advertising market.
Or as Attorney General Pam Bondi put it: “This is a landmark victory in the ongoing fight to stop Google from monopolizing the digital public square. This Department of Justice will continue taking bold legal action to protect the American people from encroachments on free speech and free markets by tech companies.”
And here’s where things get interesting. Does the current administration really care about monopolistic practices and free speech? Or is this a stealthy first step toward insinuating that Google has a liberal bias and that breaking it up would both minimize its influence and open the space to more MAGA-friendly influencers and entities?
Look no further than the DOJ’s own commentary: “The Court’s ruling is clear: Google is a monopolist and has abused its monopoly power. Google’s unlawful dominance allows them to censor and even de-platform American voices.” (I think they’re confusing Google with Facebook and X, which have in fact been accused of censoring opposing voices.)
In any case, we can expect appeals on the breakup verdict and the proposed remedies. All of this is to come. But now we learn that Google plans to roll out an AI chatbot to kids under 13. In a world where even adults can’t distinguish between reality and AI slop and hallucinations, is this really doing the right thing?
Sounds more like evil to me.
