[phyzix5761]

My point is why should the government regulate a private marketplace? If its not working for you go sell your stuff somewhere else. Google pays to keep the Play Store lights on. They should have every right to decide who sells on their platform.

People saying that Google shouldn't be allowed to decide who can or can't sell on their platform is like saying someone should have every right to sell their wares from your front porch; even though you're the owner of the property, you pay for living there, and don't want them selling their stuff on your land.

The public marketplace is a different story. If Google prevents you from selling somewhere else then the government needs to get involved because this is anti competitive behavior.

[wkat4242]

But Google has a de facto Monopoly on android. For monopolies there's different rules. Very similar to how Microsoft and Google have been hit before eg with the browser and search selection screens. The free market doesn't really work if there's only one player.

[phyzix5761]

What monopoly? Android belongs to them. They spent billions of dollars building it. A monopoly would be if they owned the only means of creating and running a cellphone operating system and prevented others from doing the same.

Goes back to my analogy of a random person selling stuff on my porch. I paid for this house and I pay the taxes on the land. If I don't want you selling your stuff here then you need to get out.

[palata]

> What monopoly? Android belongs to them. They spent billions of dollars building it.

It's funny because you seem to use the last two sentences to explain how it is not a monopoly, where it is actually usually a precondition to getting into a monopoly position.

> A monopoly would be if they owned the only means of creating and running a cellphone operating system and prevented others from doing the same.

This reminds me of this french movie (OSS 117) where the main character genuinely doesn't understand what a dictatorship is. And he says: "A dictatorship is when people are communists, cold, with gray hats and zippered shoes."

[palata]

Right. I guess we just fundamentally disagree on what "anti-competitive" means.

The problem in this case is not that Google should be forced to "sell" stuff they don't want to sell. The problem is that Google takes advantage of the fact that they are in practice the only marketplace to sell their own goods (here Google Maps or Waze) and prevent competitors from reaching an audience (here Organic Maps).

And your comparison is very limited anyway, because Google is not selling stuff on their front porch. They are distributing software to billions of devices. It's a very different situation.

[phyzix5761]

But the infrastructure and software to do any of these things (Android for example) belongs to them. They pay for it and maintain it.

Imagine you wrote an application and you choose who you want to partner with. You agree on what that partner can and can't do. Now, someone else comes along and says you must partner with them and they should be allowed to do whatever they want in your app. Are you saying you have to comply? Even if you're the one absorbing all of the cost and you don't agree with the content?

If so, please let me know where you live so I can come set up my business from your house. It's going to save me so much money since you have to take all the financial risk of paying for my utility usage, plumbing, internet, etc. And I can tap into all the connections you've made over the years living there.

Edit: Google does not have a monopoly on cellphone OSes or app marketplaces. There are numerous others and anyone is free to create their own. You just have to spend the billions of dollars they spent to make yours as popular.

[palata]

Again, I believe you fundamentally misunderstand antitrust. You compare it to going to the bakery next door and forcing it to sell your bread.

> You just have to spend the billions of dollars

That's exactly what makes a de facto monopoly. Your arguments sound like this to me: "This is not a dictatorship, because you are not forced to obey the power in place. You could just overtake the government and take the power yourself."

[phyzix5761]

Just so I understand. Are you saying we should punish anyone who spends their own money to build something because they want to restrict how/who can use what they've built?

What's preventing you (or someone with capital they want to risk) from building a mobile OS?