Stop Being Evil: A Proposal for Unbiased Google Search

Since its inception in the late 1990s, Google has done as much as anyone to create an "open internet." Thanks to Google's unparalleled search algorithms, anyone's ideas can be heard, and all kinds of information are easier than ever to find. As Google has extended its ambition beyond its core function, however, it has conducted itself in a manner that now threatens the openness and diversity of the same internet ecosystem that it once championed. By promoting its own content and vertical search services above all others, Google places a significant obstacle in the path of its competitors. This handicap will only be magnified as search engines become increasingly important and the internet continues to expand.In order to mitigate the potential damage to competition, we must prevent Google from leveraging its power in core search to steal market share for its downstream vertical search services. Requiring Google core search to integrate its competitors' vertical offerings would promote competition without intrusive administrative interference. But action must come soon. Search is taking shape very quickly. Once the next generation of online search emerges, the dominant players will have already cemented their positions. Let us hope that when the dust settles it isn't too late.IntroductionImagine a query for "Michigan Wolverines Football" that yields jerseys from Amazon, game statistics and the team injury report from ESPN, Coach Hoke's latest press conference from YouTube, and game tickets from Stub- Hub all on the same page. Such a search experience would be truly universal.1 Indeed, Google is increasingly moving toward a universal model with its "core" search2 but all of its integrated "vertical" services3 are published by Google itself. Because Google has such great market power in core search, the integration raises competitive concerns that Google is leveraging its dominance in core search to gain market share in vertical search.Since its inception, Google has been largely celebrated for its contributions toward the progress of the internet. Indeed, Google has been a great pioneer in the digital age by making the internet's vast stores of information accessible to average users. A loyal contingent of users has rewarded Google for its tremendous innovation, making it the most frequently visited website in the world.4 Its name has become a generic verb, synonymous with "to search the internet."5 It ranks among the twenty most valuable public companies in the world,6 and it continues to grow at a torrid pace.7 Yet the past year has brought Google unwanted attention as well. It has begun to face scrutiny for the anticompetitive nature of some of its business practices, both in the United States8 and in the European Union.9 In particular, Google has come under fire for giving preferential treatment to its own proprietary services over those of its downstream competitors.10 This favoritism creates the potential for foreclosure.11Antitrust law promotes free market competition by regulating anticompetitive conduct by companies in positions of power.12 Its overarching purpose in doing so is to increase consumer welfare.13 In the United States, anticompetitive conduct by a single firm is governed primarily under § 2 of the Sherman Act, which prohibits monopolization and attempts to monopolize. 14 Although the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") recently dropped its investigation,15 competition authorities around the world continue to investigate Google because of concerns that its practice of favoring its own products will foreclose existing and potential competitors, thus allowing Google to maintain and extend its market power.16This Note argues that by favoring its own proprietary ("vertical") services in its general ("core") search results, Google violates the spirit, if not the letter, of U.S. competition laws. Part I explores Google's role within the greater internet ecosystem and weighs the potential consequences of Google hard-coding its own services at the top of the results page. …