介绍:
If you think Americans google a lot, try Europe. Their Google controls more than 90 percent of the online search market. In the U.S., it's closer to two-thirds.This week, Europe's Parliament voted to break up Google. That vote is not binding, but it speaks to Europe's approach more generally to big techc ompanies. It's a very different attitude from here inthe U.S. Joining us to discuss these differences is David Meyer, a senior writer for the website GigaOM. He joins us from Berlin. Welcome to the program.
DAVID MEYER: Hi, pleased to be with you.
SHAPIRO: Explain exactly what the European Parliament did this week.
MEYER: What the European Parliament did was to ask the European Commission, which isconducting a very long-running anti-trust case looking into Google's practices, to consider a breakup of Google as an option. This is a nuclear option. It's never actually happened before.The European Commission does have the power to split companies up, but it's never actually done that before. And the European Parliament has never actually taken the step of asking forthat. So it's sort of a nuclear option. I don't think it's likely to happen, but it is now on the table.
SHAPIRO: Well, according to the European Parliament, what exactly has Google done wrong?
MEYER: Well, it has been established through this long — I mean, this case has been going on for four years — and it has been established that Google has been abusing its dominant position in the search market. It's been doing various things which have been more or less resolved. And the solution there has been quite simple. It's been to say stop doing that, and Google's gone OK. And they've been working out the fine details.
The deeper issue is that of Google promoting its own services in its search results so that those get shoved to the top of page one, and rivals who are trying to set up their own perhaps search services, they're getting shunted down to the bottom of the page there or maybe evenonto page two. And let's face it, nobody ever clicks through to page two, and that's the problem.
And there's been a long running back and forth between Google and the European Commission trying to figure out the best way to give other competitors greater prominence in the results.
SHAPIRO: And is Google only engaging in these practices in Europe which is why the U.S.hasn't taken issue with it? Or is Google doing the same thing in both places but Europe mindsand the U.S. doesn't?
MEYER: Google is absolutely doing that in the U.S. as well. But in the U.S. you've got your First Amendment. And basically, search results have been classified as speech. A lot of peoplethink that Google search results are neutral — that they are just showing what is most relevant to the user. In many cases, that's simply not true. But because of free speech laws in the U.S., nobody can change those practices in that country. In Europe, which does also has free speech laws, but gives them slightly less importance compared to other principles, peoplecan actually take action about this.
SHAPIRO: And how has Google responded to all this activity in Europe?
MEYER: Well, it's been trying to make concessions to the European Commissions, but it keeps finding itself up against the complainants, which have largely been backed by Microsoft — has been a very important player in that. Yelp has piled in. And you've also got the big Europeanpress publishers who are also pushing back. So every time Google tries to make concessions,these people go no, that's not good enough. And that has forced the commission to keep extending the case repeatedly.
SHAPIRO: That's David Meyer, senior writer for the website GigaOM, speaking with us fromBerlin. Thanks for your time.
MEYER: And thank you.
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SHAPIRO: You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.
如果你认为美国人常使用谷歌，那看看欧洲吧。谷歌在欧洲在线搜索市场的占有率超过90%。而谷歌在美国的市场占有率接近三分之二。本周，欧洲议会就拆分谷歌进行了投票。这项投票不具备法律约束力，但是它表明了欧洲对大型科技公司的普遍态度。不过美国这里的态度却大为不同。今天我们请到了GigaOM网站的资深作家大卫·迈耶，他将和我们一起讨论这种不同。他将从柏林同我们连线。欢迎参与我们的节目。
大卫·迈耶：你好，我很高兴能和你一起做节目。
夏皮罗：请和我们详细说明一下本周欧洲议会做的事情。
迈耶：欧洲议会要求欧洲委员会就谷歌的行为展开长期的反垄断调查，并考虑拆分谷歌。这是一个“核选项”。此前从未发生过这种事。欧洲委员会的确有权力拆分公司，不过它此前从未这么做过。欧洲议会也从未要求欧洲委员会采取这种措施。所以这类似于“核选项”。我认为这不太可能发生，不过现在这个问题已经放上谈判桌了。
夏皮罗：那欧洲议会认为谷歌到底哪里做错了？
迈耶：这个问题已经公布了，我的意思是这个事件已经进行了四年，谷歌被指控一直滥用其在搜索市场的主导地位。有不同的事情在进行，而且或多或少地解决了些问题。不过解决方法极其简单。他们要求谷歌停止这种做法，谷歌回应说可以。他们一直在商定具体细节。
更深层的问题是谷歌在搜索结果中推广自己的服务，使这些被推广的服务在第一页置顶，而试图建立自己搜索服务的竞争对手只能在页尾显示，甚至可能被推至第二页。现实是没有人会点击第二页，所以这就是问题。
长期以来，谷歌和欧洲委员会一直试图寻找让其他竞争对手在搜索结果中获得更突出地位的方法。
夏皮罗：谷歌的这种行为只发生在欧洲吗？所以美国才没
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