[YeGoblynQueenne]

>> if someone builds a better search engine, all of Google's customers could switch to it in ten seconds and never look back.

The point here is not that Google is a monopoly, rather that it's treating its competitors unfairly.

The fact that Google has competitors indeed means the "only shop in town" excuse holds no water. Google does have competitors, except they're not in the search business, they use Google's search business. And Google uses this fact to put them out of business and take their customers.

Also- just because you don't have any options when someone puts a gun to your head doesn't mean it's fair for them to do so.

[raldi]

Antitrust law is emphatically about what's best for consumers, not what's best for competitors.

[tracker1]

Healthy competition is best for consumers, and a free market is paramount to this... being able to abuse a dominant position to gain dominance in new markets is anticompetitive and bad for the consumer long term.

Now, a single competitor should not necessarily have a leg to stand on, but the acts of a first party like google have sweeping repercussions.