Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Cloud
    • Networking

    FTC Adding Social Search to Google Antitrust Probe

    By
    Clint Boulton
    -
    January 14, 2012
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      The Federal Trade Commission is reportedly expanding its antitrust probe of Google to include the company’s new “Search, plus your world” social-search feature, an effort to make users’ results more personal.

      Bloombergand Reuters both said Jan. 13 that the FTC is looking into the matter because it is concerned Google is providing preference to Google+ over Web services from others, breaking its promise to provide unbiased search results.

      Search, plus your world injects posts and pictures from users’ Google+ accounts into their search results. It also makes users’ Google+ contacts and relevant Google+ Pages more readily searchable.

      However, the service eschews such content from Facebook and Twitter, two of the world’s leading social services that users have come to expect content from on search engines. Google’s failure to treat third-party sources equal to Google+ in search results drew complaints from the media, Twitter and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).

      EPIC Jan. 12 complained to the FTC that Google is skewering user privacy and antitrust rules just to keep up with Facebook.

      The FTC appears to be listening to the Internet’s concerns, which echo complaints brought to bear by senators who complained that Google was ranking its own products higher than those of Yelp, Expedia and others in its search results.

      Search Engine Land’s Greg Sterling told eWEEK:

      “Google’s promotion of Google+, seemingly without giving “equal time” to other networks, plays right into the chief complaint of many of Google’s antitrust critics: that the company favors its own products and properties at the expense of competitors. Google either mishandled the communication around the rollout or demonstrated a kind of strange na???vet??« about how critics might react.“

      Google declined to comment on whether or not the FTC had contacted it about the new social-search issue. However, the company was unapologetic as to how Search, plus your world excludes Facebook, Twitter and other sources in its results.

      “The laws are designed to help consumers benefit from innovation, not to help competitors,” a Google spokesperson told eWEEK. “We believe that our improvements to search will benefit consumers by better surfacing social content, and the great thing about the openness of the Internet is that if users don’t like our service, they can easily switch to another site.”

      There is some truth to this viewpoint. Casual users of Google+, Facebook and Twitter-that is, the majority of social service users-tend to go to all of those Websites separately and don’t expect content from one would necessarily be in the other.

      However, the other viewpoint espoused by some search and Internet experts is that the world’s leading search engine must not exclude data sources from its search index.

      There is often a gray area between playing fairly and actually violating antitrust laws, which are designed to protect consumers, not necessarily competitors in business.

      Some experts said Google’s practice is not necessarily an antitrust matter. Mark A. Lemley, a professor at Stanford Law School who directs the program in law, science and technology, told The New York Times the move should not be viewed in anticompetitive terms.

      “It can’t be the rule that if Facebook says no, you can’t search our links, that Google can’t search its own links. That is not antitrust,” Lemley said.

      Still, the FTC can’t ignore this issue, given the media outcry. “Even if the EPIC complaint hadn’t been filed, I would have expected the FTC to examine this,” Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan told eWEEK. “The investigation is still ongoing, so you’d obviously want to include this.”

      Clint Boulton

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×