Google, once a Stanford science project and now one of the world’s most successful tech companies, represents the best of American innovation. But instead of celebrating that success, politicians from both parties are treating it like a crime.
In a recent RealClearMarkets article, Charles Sauer explains how the Biden Administration dragged Google into court—not for harming consumers, but for offering a browser (Chrome) that users overwhelmingly prefer:
“The government’s case was just an attempt to punish Google for the ‘crime’ of creating a browser that most internet users prefer to the alternatives… In other words: Google is being punished for behaving the way businesses are expected to behave in a competitive market.”
After Google lost the case, the Department of Justice proposed extreme remedies—including forcing Google to sell Chrome, banning mutually beneficial deals with companies like Apple, and requiring “choice screens” that have already proven ineffective in Europe:
“Google is number one because consumers prefer it, not because Google has MMP (Magic Monopoly Powers).”
But it doesn’t stop there. The Trump Administration’s newly appointed antitrust chief, Gail Slater, isn’t rolling back these overreaches—she’s going further. According to Sauer:
“The Trump Justice Department wants to force Google to give ‘qualified competitors’ access to all of Google’s intellectual property for free.”
Even more dangerous is the proposal to install a government-appointed “technical committee” with veto power over Google’s business decisions:
“The committee… would not just have access to all of Google’s intellectual property—but could also overrule any of Google’s business decisions.”
This kind of heavy-handed intervention—regardless of which party is in charge—undermines property rights, consumer choice, and market-driven innovation. And conservatives cheering this as a way to “get back” at Big Tech should think twice:
“Those conservatives tempted to support this… should consider how future Presidents could use this power to punish sites friendly to conservatives and reward sites that engage in aggressive ‘content moderation’ against anyone more than six inches to the right of AOC.”
Sauer’s warning is clear: once we accept the idea that the government can seize IP, dictate product defaults, or manage private businesses, we’ve abandoned the very principles that made America a global leader in innovation.
“Letting politicians and bureaucrats run ‘private’ businesses is no way to make a country great.”
