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This doesn't seem implausible to me, based on the different competitive positions that Google and Bing hold. I can imagine a scenario in which Google doesn't w

This doesn't seem implausible to me, based on the different competitive positions that Google and Bing hold. I can imagine a scenario in which Google doesn't want to pay this tax to avoid a ripple effect across their business in other countries, while Bing opportunistically decides that paying protection money is worth establishing a foothold as the primary search engine in a developed, Anglophone country.

jariel 7y ago
There is zero chance that Google 'pulls out' to avoid a 'ripple effect' - because this would cause a much more existential 'ripple effect' in other ways. Google pulling out of any regular nation would be existentially damaging. MS/Bing would weaponize this to the nth degree - they already have service contracts with businesses and corporations around the world and they'd be in a global push to 'drop Google' for the inherent risk of pullout they just witnesses. This would be the #1 talking point for their massive global salesforce.
- wutbrodo 7y ago
  > There is zero chance that Google 'pulls out' to avoid a 'ripple effect' Why are you quoting the words "pulls out" next to an actual quote from my comment? I didn't use it in my comment, and neither did anyone else in the comment thread. Google refusing to play ball here could take any number of forms, from the extreme hardball of simply refusing and tying it up in the courts (and getting fined and perhaps blocked), to just blacklisting links to the companies that the government is extorting them on behalf of. The latter wouldn't even be "hardball"; companies that are explicitly disagreeing with Google's terms for inclusion aren't included in their results, in the same way that robots.txt allows for. > Google pulling out of any regular nation would be existentially damaging. There's plenty of precedent for this level of targeted reduction in service as a response to gov't demands. They shut down Google News in Spain, removed French news links under very-similar demands, etc etc. None of this has had the ripple effect you're describing, and is evidence in favor of the fact that Google is concerned about a broader ripple effect: Why else would they give up all the revenue from referral to these sites instead of paying a portion of the revenue in protection money?
  - jariel 7y ago
    + If they don't want to pay the tax, they would have to leave ... I didn't mean to imply that's what you implied although I see how one could read it that way. + " They shut down Google News in Spain, removed French news links under very-similar demands, etc etc. None of this has had the ripple effect you're describing" The 'ripple effect' is happening right now in Australia.

jariel 7y ago

There is zero chance that Google 'pulls out' to avoid a 'ripple effect' - because this would cause a much more existential 'ripple effect' in other ways. Google pulling out of any regular nation would be existentially damaging. MS/Bing would weaponize this to the nth degree - they already have service contracts with businesses and corporations around the world and they'd be in a global push to 'drop Google' for the inherent risk of pullout they just witnesses. This would be the #1 talking point for their massive global salesforce.

wutbrodo 7y ago
> There is zero chance that Google 'pulls out' to avoid a 'ripple effect' Why are you quoting the words "pulls out" next to an actual quote from my comment? I didn't use it in my comment, and neither did anyone else in the comment thread. Google refusing to play ball here could take any number of forms, from the extreme hardball of simply refusing and tying it up in the courts (and getting fined and perhaps blocked), to just blacklisting links to the companies that the government is extorting them on behalf of. The latter wouldn't even be "hardball"; companies that are explicitly disagreeing with Google's terms for inclusion aren't included in their results, in the same way that robots.txt allows for. > Google pulling out of any regular nation would be existentially damaging. There's plenty of precedent for this level of targeted reduction in service as a response to gov't demands. They shut down Google News in Spain, removed French news links under very-similar demands, etc etc. None of this has had the ripple effect you're describing, and is evidence in favor of the fact that Google is concerned about a broader ripple effect: Why else would they give up all the revenue from referral to these sites instead of paying a portion of the revenue in protection money?
- jariel 7y ago
  + If they don't want to pay the tax, they would have to leave ... I didn't mean to imply that's what you implied although I see how one could read it that way. + " They shut down Google News in Spain, removed French news links under very-similar demands, etc etc. None of this has had the ripple effect you're describing" The 'ripple effect' is happening right now in Australia.