As the European Union sues Google on trust issues some questions come into mind. What's going to happen next to Google if the EU wins the case? Will there be an effect on web marketing and transactions? There's also the speculation that the EU is anti-US because of the fact that Google is an American company. What do you think about this issue?
I don't think much will happen. Europe is very anti-US when it comes to business. They've also fined Intel (but they really deserved it). But guess what, Intel's competitors don't win, only the government does. Why do you think they banned GMOs in Europe? It's not because there is any proven danger but because it would force European nations to buy seed from American Corporations.
I really have lost a lot of trust in Google. I almost suspected that they were spying on the common people, but I did not truly think that it was to the extent that it turned out to be. I love the company in all of the ways you can except for the fact that they have turned out to be something similar to government spies.
I don't know the truthfulness of this but I learned that Google has coordinated with the US government in jailing some criminals. It could be good in terms of justice for the victims but it could also be bad for mistaken identities. I guess we all just have to be responsible web users to avoid any conflicts.
A company that big and influential? Worst case scenario they get a fine and a slap on the wrist. I wouldn't worry about it too much.
Would it affect web marketing? Not likely. Unless a European company which offers Google-like products is offered to Europeans as a better option I don't suppose anything will change. In any case, regardless of what the European union thinks, the residents of Europe themselves will decide for themselves whether they'll use Google services or not. It's their right after all.
This. If the EU decides that Google has done something wrong, they will face a fine and they will be forced to make some MINOR changes to how they operate in Europe. And I really mean minor changes, something that is just a small adjustment and won't lead to any financial changes in the company or any changes to user experience.
But what else are they going to use? The only competitor that I can think of is Bing, and they're way too far behind to penetrate the market there.
It's all just a storm in a teacup really. The resulting fine will be nothing more than spare change to Google and I'm pretty sure that, like crimsonghost747 says, some minor policy adjustments will be enforced. It's also true that Google does appear to have the monopoly on web searches. They won't suffer!
