On Tuesday, Ohio’s Republican Attorney General Dave Yost filed a lawsuit against Google, seeking to have it declared a public utility.
This is an attempt to implement net neutrality. Which is to say, a bad policy.
“Google uses its dominance of internet search to steer Ohioans to Google’s own products — that’s discriminatory and anti-competitive,” Yost claimed. He continued, “When you own the railroad or the electric company or the cellphone tower, you have to treat everyone the same and give everybody access.”
This is misguided thinking. Google is a search engine, which shows results based on what content is the most viral or closest to what is typed in the search box. Google does not restrict who can access its services.
Yost’s lawsuit also alleges that Google “has a duty not to artificially prioritize Google services and links higher than they would be displayed as a result of Google’s internet searches algorithms in which the algorithm is not programmed to prioritize Google’s owed products and services.”
Except that Google does not have that duty. It should not be seen as outrageous that Google, like any company, prioritizes its own products. Competition consists of firms seeking to stand out and promote their own interests. That is the idea behind an “invisible hand” of economics that does not discriminate.
While having search engine optimization on Google is helpful for companies, it is not the only way for them to promote or sell their products. Social media, print, billboards, Yelp, TV, and radio are other ways to advertise. And while Google is the most popular search engine on the internet, it is not the only one.
Google is not a utility such as water and gas. Classifying the internet as a utility, which is what net neutrality — something the Trump administration ended, though it is expected the Biden administration will reinstate it — does, results in increased government regulations. Like any heavy-handed regulation, net neutrality causes internet providers and services, including Google, to spend more money on complying with the regulation and less on innovation that can create more or improve services.
Yost’s lawsuit exemplifies the dangerous trend of conservatives using big government to control Big Tech. Such control establishes a dangerous precedent. Complete government control of an industry has a name: socialism.
Jackson Richman is a journalist in Washington, D.C. Follow him @jacksonrichman.
