[conradev]

Google has no (competitive) horse in the messenger race, so while that theory might fit your ideological point of view, I don’t understand why Google itself would have any incentive (or grounds) to remove an open source chat app.

How is Matrix a threat to Google?

[zaroth]

Google counts up every minute users spend using their electronic devices.

In their world view, every single minute per day spent looking at screens that don’t have Google ad targeting is a minute that a competitor is stealing value from Google.

[johbjo]

> How is Matrix a threat to Google?

A matrix user identity will eventually compete with a google account.

When google accounts are considered as important as myspace accounts, then much of their surveillance loses relevance.

[eganist]

> How is Matrix a threat to Google?

Conjecture on my part: it's a threat to the ad spend Google gets from Facebook.

[conradev]

Facebook (24%) and Google (32%) compete pretty intensely for mobile ad spend. While we don’t know how much Facebook uses Google ads, that theory isn’t particularly satisfying because they compete so intensely.

https://www.fastcompany.com/4032442/its-still-pi-day-so-we-d...

[bryant]

> Facebook (24%) and Google (32%) compete pretty intensely for mobile ad spend. While we don’t know how much Facebook uses Google ads, that theory isn’t particularly satisfying because they compete so intensely.

And yet...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/17/technology/google-faceboo...

[anticensor]

Discord, a huge chat software, is hosted on Google Cloud. This might help explain why they tried to kill Element, a client for Matrix, a competing chat software with similar targeted user base.