Something that is missing in those discussions about Google's monopoly position is that monopoly power doesn't matter that much here because absolutely no conte

Something that is missing in those discussions about Google's monopoly position is that monopoly power doesn't matter that much here because absolutely no content platform would agree to the terms Google are being strongarmed into. Google doesn't want it. Bing wouldn't accept it. DuckDuckGo wouldn't accept it. Qwant probably wouldn't, for that matter. Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and HN wouldn't (in fact, Reddit actively lobbied against the EUCD). The publishers went after Google because it's both the biggest mark and also the most unpopular. If they wanted to be principled, they'd apply the same law to Bing, Facebook, Reddit, etc. Except they won't, because Bing, Facebook and Reddit would simply remove any links to French news sites, and they would be hard pressed to make a case for monopoly power when every single content platform reacts the same way.