Tuesday, June 27, 2017

The Google-EU Fine

The EU came out today and said that basically....Goggle has it's search-engine rigged to hype products that people pay them to hype.....when you do a product search.  Shocking?  No.  It's been a known fact for a decade.  It's just a shock that the EU said there's a fine involved in this now....to the tune of 2.75-billion Euro.  A fair sum of money.

What happens now?  Court action probably.  The Google folks will say that it's a very unfair sum of money (suggesting 10-percent of that sum probably).  I don't see any payoff coming for at least three years minimum.

So what does the EU do with 2.75-billion....if it all did come?

Well....the EU building in Brussels is deemed now as mostly unfit (I know....it's been around since 1993 and folks are shocked that this topic has come up).  The price to replace the structure.....in Brussels?  Back in 2015, it was quoted around at 450-million Euro.  That's probably without the fancy art, the parking lot, or furnishings.  That's also without cost-over-runs.  So a nice tidy.....one-billion Euro is the likely end-cost.  All from the Google fine?  Maybe.

But there is this big problem if you sit and think about it.  Google only makes massive profit off it's advertising scheme which is what the EU got angry about.  Now that everyone realizes it's a problem....who else will sue?  Will Google have to admit that it's only mechanism for profit.....is a problem in all countries? This really brings out a hundred possible scenarios on the future with Google and how they survive into the next decade.

If I were to bet on the final outcome?  I think the EU will get the bulk of the fine suggested, and Google sits there in some shock at the damage done to it.  If you can't make a profit off advertising in the way that they did......why bother making it a tool for any EU resident to use?  I might even go to the extent of making Google a private tool....that you have to pay 20-Euro a month....to be an inside-user.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Following the same logic, the EU should fine Coca-Cola for not promoting Pepsi on its ads and vice-versa.