Facing criticism, Google tries buffing its image

Google, having dealt with two major antitrust issues in 2008 and facing the potential of more to come, has begun a program to try to spruce up its image and show that competition is alive and well.

Consumer Watchdog on Friday plans to tout a Google presentation titled "Google, Competition, and Openness" (PDF) that the advocacy group uncovered. The company presentation (also embedded below) gives Google's views that it faces plenty of competition in a dynamic market.

Given the increasing profile of the search giant, especially in light of its ability to weather the economic storm better than most, it would be surprising if Google were not trying to mollify critics and show its best face to regulators. And indeed, not only did Google acknowledge that the document is its own, it also said it has been sharing it in an outreach campaign to Congressional aides, the press, think tanks, academics, advertising agencies, and ad trade associations, said spokesman Adam Kovacevich.

"We know we have to do a better job of explaining our approach to competition," Kovacevich said. "We're trying to do a better job of telling our story and listening to people as well."

Consumer Watchdog, which has been publicly tangling with Google over a health-care lobbying issue, sees things less charitably.

"Google's charm and spin should not be allowed to deter antitrust regulators from seeing the real problems with Google's dominance and setting appropriate limits to protect users," said Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court in a statement. The organization also published an anonymous author's version of the presentation with critical commentary added on top (PDF).

Google overcame antitrust objections in its 2008 acquisition of DoubleClick, but later that year backed off a search-ad partnership with Yahoo when the Justice Department threatened an antitrust suit. More recently a proposed settlement of a class-action suit involving Google Book Search has caught the DOJ's attention again.

Here's Google's full presentation:

20090507 Google and Competition Preso

[brandyslover]

This is rediculous. 1. There are other search engines to use. 2. Google doesn't block them. 3. Jst because more people use Google doesn't mean they are anti-competitive.
Why are we so critical of success? Yes there are companies that abuse their size my controlling a market, but there are many alternatives out in the marketplace to Google. It's just Google does many of them BETTER.
I am a fan of the underdog as other people, but labeling Google as anti-competitive is not true.

[t8]

Agreed. We are not locked into Google like consumers are locked to Windows. Google is one click away, Windows is an OS, file format, and a whole lot of new applications (plus possible hardware) away.

Big difference.

People generally like Google because they deliver and they don't feel trapped by them.

[NickH]

I think the concern is not the end-user search aspect, but the market for advertising around search, which Google clearly dominates. Ultimately, this could limit your ability to switch to another search provider, if there is no viable market left for others profit in. Everyone wants to advertise on Google because every uses google.

Microsoft is a distant number 3, but does anyone think they would be there if they didn't have hundreds of millions to pour into it? Other search start-ups seem to come and go with inevitable regularity.

[Super2online]

Any company that can force features out of my operating system that I paid for by complaining to governments is abusing it's search monolopy. You can spin that any way you want to but it doesn't change it.

[loose_screw]

Who funds "Consumer Watchdog"? I think there should be an in-depth investigation, and I would not be surprised to find M$ behind the scenes.

Seriously? Complaining about Google as if they're holding a gun against their users' heads to force them to use Google services? I don't think so.

If someone doesn't like Google, let them build a better mousetrap and try to convert people. Don't whine and complain to congress because you (M$) can't win people over by simply throwing money at your inferior products.

This really makes whoever is behind this effort seem pathetic.

[rapier1]

So no one forced anyone to use Microsoft products. Did they? It was, for all intents and purposes, a free choice made by consumers. No one held a gun to their heads. However, MS abused their market dominant position to quash real competition in the marketplace. The concern is that Google is setting themselves up to engage in the same practices by creating ecosystems that are anti-competitive. Its also important to note that the issue doesn't revolve around what the end user search consumer is doing but how the Ad Words buyers are being treated. I'm not saying that there is any merit behind these claims but saying "No one is forcing them to use Google" is a specious defense.

As for MS funding Consumer Watchdog that doesn't seem likely. Consumer Watchdog is actually funded by the Rose Foundation which is in turn funded primarily by class action settlements. In one instance $900K was given to the Rose Foundation by a class action suit against Exxon which uses that money to investigate Exxon and other oil companies.

[loose_screw]

@rapier1: Show me a workplace where you are free to choose your operating system. A lot of consumers choose Windows for home use because that's what they use at work and are familiar with. So yes, people ARE forced to use Microsoft products.

[knowles2]

Well Microsoft was behind the privacy international lot, so would not be surprise if they have diversify there attackers on google, knowing they cannot complete fairly with google on there own.

[washrice]

what happen to the free market, if one truly dominates the market. let it be until a new product or company take over