A Lesson from Across the Pond
Do you travel often? If you do, you have likely used one of the many online services that help you plan that trip. Two of the most popular travel tools are Google Flights, to compare prices, and Google Maps, to see how to get to your destination. Due to new European regulations, many across the pond are finding it more difficult to access these services.
The recently enacted Digital Markets Act (DMA) is a case study in how excessive regulation hurts consumers. The DMA labels six companies, including Google, as “gatekeepers.” If a company meets the DMA’s criteria for a gatekeeper, it is then subject to a long list of strict requirements.
For example, when people use Google to search for locations near them, Google Maps no longer appears as an option in the search results. Instead, users receive links to middleman sites, such as TripAdvisor and Yelp, on which they then can continue their search. This limits information and could require people to spend more time searching for their destination, if what they need or desire doesn’t appear in the search results.
Similarly, Google was forced to remove the Google Flights feature from its search engine. Want to see a quick comparison of “flights to France?” You’ll be met with an array of middleman sites like Expedia before you can continue your search. While TripAdvisor, Yelp, Expedia, and other sites that are favored under the DMA have their benefits, when Google users choose to search on Google, they are choosing to have Google products included. Other search engines like Bing and Duck Duck Go already exclude Google results.
These examples might seem like small inconveniences, but those eager for more regulation should take note of these outcomes. The DMA is not encouraging competition, as it claims to do, because companies are too busy trying to avoid penalization instead of creating a more seamless user experience that will outperform rivals on the market.
As America, not Europe, is home to the most successful tech companies, large and small, in the world, American policymakers and regulators would be wise to reject Europe’s failed approach and allow technology to work well for their people.