谷歌遭美司法部起诉，或拉开巨头被肢解序幕？

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原标题：谷歌遭美司法部起诉，或拉开巨头被肢解序幕？

当地时间20日，美国政府对谷歌提起诉讼，指控其在互联网搜索及搜索广告市场“非法垄断”。这是几十年来该国最大的反垄断诉讼——该诉讼或成为硅谷巨头被肢解的序幕。

这是美国政府与科技巨头公司之间最新的“对立”。该案可能持续数年，或对搜索引擎行业产生重大影响。

美国司法部副部长杰弗里·罗森表示，该诉讼由司法部联合11州的检察官发起，瞄准的是谷歌在线上生态系统中的主导地位。

罗森向记者表示，“谷歌是互联网的守门人，但它通过一系列排他性做法获得了垄断地位，损害了公平竞争。”

起诉书指控谷歌与用户签订排他协议，例如，要求其搜索应用程序预装在移动设备上，且使其无法删除。

政府方面称，谷歌花费了数十亿美元以巩固并加强其垄断地位。

诉讼指责谷歌将竞争对手拒之门外的做法，并建议法院考虑采取补救措施。

此外，起诉书要求法院禁止谷歌的反竞争做法，并考虑对该公司进行“结构性”变革——这意味着谷歌可能被拆分。

The U.S。 government filed a blockbuster lawsuit Tuesday accusing Google of maintaining an “illegal monopoly” in online search and advertising in the country‘s biggest antitrust case in decades – opening the door to a potential breakup of the Silicon Valley titan。

The politically charged case， which could take years to play out， draws new battle lines between the U.S。 government and Big Tech with potentially major implications for the sector。

Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said the case filed with Republican state attorneys general from 11 states takes aim at Google‘s dominance of the online ecosystem。 “Google is the gateway to the internet，” Rosen told reporters。 “But it has maintained its monopoly through exclusionary practices that are harmful to competition。”

The suit said those agreements include long-term agreements requiring that Google search be pre-loaded on devices and making it impossible to delete some of its apps。

The government claims Google pays billions to maintain that position， thus reinforcing its monopoly position。 The lawsuit filed in Washington contends that Google‘s action to shut out competitors， and it proposes that the court consider a range of remedies。 The filing calls for the court to “enjoin Google” from anti-competitive practices and consider “structural” changes to the company – which could mean breaking it up。

谷歌称该诉讼有“严重缺陷”

谷歌首席法律顾问肯特·沃克在其博客上对司法部的起诉进行了反驳。他指出，“人们使用谷歌是因为他们选择这么做，而不是因为被强迫或者没有别的搜索引擎可选。”

“这一诉讼对消费者没有任何好处，相反，它将人为支持质量较差的搜索引擎，导致手机价格上涨，同时阻碍人们获得他们想要的搜索服务。”

据悉，在诉讼发起前，美国联邦和州反垄断执法部门已对谷歌展开数月的调查，以查清这家庞大科技企业的“权势”。同时，相关人员还对亚马逊、脸书和苹果等其他美国科技巨头进行了“平行调查”。

进步派人士指责这些科技公司扼杀竞争，加剧经济的不平等性。另外，美国众议院发布的一份报告提出，为了维护公平竞争，谷歌等科技公司应该被拆分。

尽管相关证据并不充分，但保守派人士同时认为这些科技巨头公司具有政治偏见。

“People use Google because they choose to – not because they‘re forced to or because they can’t find alternatives，” Google general counsel Kent Walker said in a blog post。

“This lawsuit would do nothing to help consumers。 To the contrary， it would artificially prop up lower-quality search alternatives， raise phone prices， and make it harder for people to get the search services they want to use。”

The move comes after months of investigations by U.S。 federal and state antitrust enforcers seeking to check the company‘s power and parallel probes into other titans such as Amazon， Facebook and Apple。

Progressives have accused the firms of stifling competition and worsening economic inequality。 A recent House of Representatives report suggested Google and others should be broken up to preserve competition。 Conservatives have accused them of political bias， although evidence has been scant。

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“一场大戏”才刚刚开始？

有官员暗示，将来政府会采取更多的反垄断措施。

罗森表示，“今天司法部对在线数字平台竞争状况的审查是一个重要节点，但这不是终点。司法部将继续调查占主导地位的互联网平台，评估是否存在潜在的不当行为。”

谷歌是其控股公司Alphabet的主要部门，主要业务包括搜索引擎、地图、电子邮件及购物等相关服务。

另外，谷歌还运营着全球大多数智能手机使用的安卓移动操作系统。

谷歌曾在欧盟被指控“不平等竞争”，并为此支付了巨额罚单。但是，该公司也对裁决结果进行了上诉。谷歌方面一直否认其有垄断行为。

美国圣克拉拉大学高科技法学院院长埃里克·高德曼表示，该诉讼“表达得很到位”，但该案件的背后似乎是特朗普政府对硅谷的政治意图。

高德曼表示，此案很可能最终发展为“终极版微软案”——企业的演变比司法进程快得多。

“鉴于此案的结案时间可能很长，关于补救措施的任何讨论都为时尚早，”他补充道。

Officials hinted that more antitrust actions may be coming。

“Today‘s review is a milestone but not a stopping point，” Rosen said。 “We plan to continue our review of competitive practices by leading online platforms。”

The main unit of holding firm Alphabet， Google operates the dominant search engine used in most of the world and a variety of related services such as maps， email， advertising and shopping。 It also operates the Android mobile operating system used on the majority of smartphones worldwide。

Google has been hit with big fines in the European Union for unfair competition and has challenged those cases。 The company has consistently denied claims of monopoly abuse。

Eric Goldman， director of Santa Clara University‘s High-Tech Law Institute， said the lawsuit was “well expressed” but appeared to be motivated by the political animus of the Trump administration to Silicon Valley。

Goldman said the case could end up being “Microsoft redux，” with the industry evolving more quickly than the legal process。 “Any discussion on remedy is premature given how long this case will take to litigate，” he said。

谷歌伤害了消费者吗？

此案是1998年微软垄断案后最引人注目的反垄断案，它也可能成为对反垄断法的一次测试。

若想赢得官司，美国政府需要满足反垄断法的条件——必须证明消费者受到了垄断行为的伤害。

来自消费者组织Public Knowledge的夏洛特·斯莱曼称，此案“朝着搜索引擎领域以人为本的创新迈出了重要一步”，并表示这将使得更好的产品和服务能够在搜索引擎市场参与公平竞争。

来自计算机及通讯协会（包含谷歌公司在内的一个贸易团体）的马特·施鲁尔斯认为，这起诉讼“是在选举前夕匆匆提出的，在本次选举中，特朗普政府一直在施压科技公司，使其采取对政府有利的行动。”

前美国反垄断执法律师艾福瑞·加迪纳指出，美国政府在证明谷歌公司伤害了消费者一事上将面临艰巨的挑战。她指出，该诉讼“基本忽略了价格，而将注意力集中在了质量和创新上。”

同时，她表示此类诉讼并不是什么新鲜事，“但是在过去，如果没有迹象表明价格影响了市场，反垄断机构就不愿推进案件，这倒是一个转变。”

The case is the most high-profile since the action filed against Microsoft in 1998 and could be a test case for antitrust。 To win in court， the government will need to overcome a long standard of antitrust law that cases must show consumers are harmed by monopolistic practices。

Charlotte Slaiman of the consumer group Public Knowledge called the filing “an important first step towards people-centered innovation in search engines，” and said that it could lead to “better products and services to compete fairly in the search market。”

Google and its supporters will argue that consumers benefit from the free services it offers even if some competitors are disadvantaged。

Matt Schruers of the Computer & Communications Industry Association， a trade group which includes Google， said the lawsuit “was hurried out on the eve of an election where the administration has aggressively pressured tech companies to take actions in its favor。”

Avery Gardiner， a former U.S。 antitrust enforcement lawyer who researches competition for the Center for Democracy and Technology， said the government faces an uphill battle in proving Google‘s harm to consumers。 The lawsuit “basically ignores price and focuses on quality and innovation，” she said。 That is not new， she said – “but the antitrust agencies in the past have been reluctant to move forward without evidence of price effects， so this is a shift。”

来源：CGTN

责任编辑：范斯腾 SN237