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I'm generally pro competition but I feel like there's probably more to this story (just remembering how eBay also left Turkey). Aren't there some issues with ho

I'm generally pro competition but I feel like there's probably more to this story (just remembering how eBay also left Turkey). Aren't there some issues with how the data is supposed to be stored in Turkey (a place where many people including journalists are jailed and does not rank highly as a Democratic country) that would also make Google more likely to just up and leave or outright negotiate with the government over the laws rather than directly give in? Of course, I get the argument for how Google is too powerful with their system, I don't disagree, but I'm skeptical in general of trying to do fair business with Russia and Turkey given their track records

bayindirh 7y ago
> just remembering how eBay also left Turkey eBay didn't leave Turkey. They've bought http://www.gittigidiyor.com http://www.gittigidiyor.com and continuing to operate. They're still here, just under a different brand. They've bought their fiercest local competitor.
- atlasunshrugged 7y ago
  Sorry, you're absolutely right, I meant PayPal and obviously they haven't been the same company for quite some time! https://techcrunch.com/2016/05/31/paypal-to-halt-operations-in-turkey-after-losing-license-impacts-hundreds-of-thousands/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/05/31/paypal-to-halt-operations-...
mhet 7y ago
ebay did not left Turkey. They acquired a local ecommerce and they are operating over that one now. It wasn't able to compete then it just bought it.
duck2 7y ago
Note that the regulation isn't about backdoors or data storage. Google is fined because of tying Search to Android, which is decided as anti-competitive by Russia and EU. I think they pulled out to avoid paying the fine, but this might prove to be a monopoly exerting tactic as well. There is just no other explanation of pulling out of a market just because you have to un-tie your products now.
BurningFrog 7y ago
As someone who is also pro competition, I don't mind if a peaceful actor like Google is able to compete in some sense with an oppressive warring state like Turkey. Yeah, I'm being provocative. But think about it.
- goatinaboat 7y ago
  a peaceful actor like Google is able to compete in some sense with an oppressive warring state like Turkey. What if it were more profitable for Google to side with the oppressive regime? A trick question because we all already know what the answer is.
  - BurningFrog 7y ago
    You're saying if Google is powerful, it might do something bad. That's of course true, but it's also true of Turkey. To me, having many actors with limited power is better than having a few with lot of power.

bayindirh 7y ago

> just remembering how eBay also left Turkey eBay didn't leave Turkey. They've bought http://www.gittigidiyor.com http://www.gittigidiyor.com and continuing to operate. They're still here, just under a different brand. They've bought their fiercest local competitor.

atlasunshrugged 7y ago
Sorry, you're absolutely right, I meant PayPal and obviously they haven't been the same company for quite some time! https://techcrunch.com/2016/05/31/paypal-to-halt-operations-in-turkey-after-losing-license-impacts-hundreds-of-thousands/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/05/31/paypal-to-halt-operations-...

mhet 7y ago

ebay did not left Turkey. They acquired a local ecommerce and they are operating over that one now. It wasn't able to compete then it just bought it.

duck2 7y ago

Note that the regulation isn't about backdoors or data storage. Google is fined because of tying Search to Android, which is decided as anti-competitive by Russia and EU. I think they pulled out to avoid paying the fine, but this might prove to be a monopoly exerting tactic as well. There is just no other explanation of pulling out of a market just because you have to un-tie your products now.

BurningFrog 7y ago

As someone who is also pro competition, I don't mind if a peaceful actor like Google is able to compete in some sense with an oppressive warring state like Turkey. Yeah, I'm being provocative. But think about it.

goatinaboat 7y ago
a peaceful actor like Google is able to compete in some sense with an oppressive warring state like Turkey. What if it were more profitable for Google to side with the oppressive regime? A trick question because we all already know what the answer is.
- BurningFrog 7y ago
  You're saying if Google is powerful, it might do something bad. That's of course true, but it's also true of Turkey. To me, having many actors with limited power is better than having a few with lot of power.