原標題：谷歌遭美司法部起訴，或拉開巨頭被肢解序幕？

谷歌遭美司法部起訴，或拉開巨頭被肢解序幕？

當地時間20日，美國政府對谷歌提起訴訟，指控其在互聯網搜索及搜索廣告市場“非法壟斷”。這是幾十年來該國最大的反壟斷訴訟——該訴訟或成爲硅谷巨頭被肢解的序幕。

這是美國政府與科技巨頭公司之間最新的“對立”。該案可能持續數年，或對搜索引擎行業產生重大影響。

美國司法部副部長傑弗裏·羅森表示，該訴訟由司法部聯合11州的檢察官發起，瞄準的是谷歌在線上生態系統中的主導地位。

羅森向記者表示，“谷歌是互聯網的守門人，但它通過一系列排他性做法獲得了壟斷地位，損害了公平競爭。”

起訴書指控谷歌與用戶簽訂排他協議，例如，要求其搜索應用程序預裝在移動設備上，且使其無法刪除。

政府方面稱，谷歌花費了數十億美元以鞏固並加強其壟斷地位。

訴訟指責谷歌將競爭對手拒之門外的做法，並建議法院考慮採取補救措施。

此外，起訴書要求法院禁止谷歌的反競爭做法，並考慮對該公司進行“結構性”變革——這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。

谷歌稱該訴訟有“嚴重缺陷”

谷歌首席法律顧問肯特·沃克在其博客上對司法部的起訴進行了反駁。他指出，“人們使用谷歌是因爲他們選擇這麼做，而不是因爲被強迫或者沒有別的搜索引擎可選。”

“這一訴訟對消費者沒有任何好處，相反，它將人爲支持質量較差的搜索引擎，導致手機價格上漲，同時阻礙人們獲得他們想要的搜索服務。”

據悉，在訴訟發起前，美國聯邦和州反壟斷執法部門已對谷歌展開數月的調查，以查清這家龐大科技企業的“權勢”。同時，相關人員還對亞馬遜、臉書和蘋果等其他美國科技巨頭進行了“平行調查”。

進步派人士指責這些科技公司扼殺競爭，加劇經濟的不平等性。另外，美國衆議院發佈的一份報告提出，爲了維護公平競爭，谷歌等科技公司應該被拆分。

儘管相關證據並不充分，但保守派人士同時認爲這些科技巨頭公司具有政治偏見。

“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。

  “一場大戲”纔剛剛開始？

有官員暗示，將來政府會採取更多的反壟斷措施。

羅森表示，“今天司法部對在線數字平臺競爭狀況的審查是一個重要節點，但這不是終點。司法部將繼續調查占主導地位的互聯網平臺，評估是否存在潛在的不當行爲。”

谷歌是其控股公司Alphabet的主要部門，主要業務包括搜索引擎、地圖、電子郵件及購物等相關服務。

另外，谷歌還運營着全球大多數智能手機使用的安卓移動操作系統。

谷歌曾在歐盟被指控“不平等競爭”，併爲此支付了鉅額罰單。但是，該公司也對裁決結果進行了上訴。谷歌方面一直否認其有壟斷行爲。

美國聖克拉拉大學高科技法學院院長埃裏克·高德曼表示，該訴訟“表達得很到位”，但該案件的背後似乎是特朗普政府對硅谷的政治意圖。 

高德曼表示，此案很可能最終發展爲“終極版微軟案”——企業的演變比司法進程快得多。

“鑑於此案的結案時間可能很長，關於補救措施的任何討論都爲時尚早，”他補充道。

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。

谷歌傷害了消費者嗎？

此案是1998年微軟壟斷案後最引人注目的反壟斷案，它也可能成爲對反壟斷法的一次測試。

若想贏得官司，美國政府需要滿足反壟斷法的條件——必須證明消費者受到了壟斷行爲的傷害。

來自消費者組織Public Knowledge的夏洛特·斯萊曼稱，此案“朝着搜索引擎領域以人爲本的創新邁出了重要一步”，並表示這將使得更好的產品和服務能夠在搜索引擎市場參與公平競爭。

來自計算機及通訊協會（包含谷歌公司在內的一個貿易團體）的馬特·施魯爾斯認爲，這起訴訟“是在選舉前夕匆匆提出的，在本次選舉中，特朗普政府一直在施壓科技公司，使其採取對政府有利的行動。”

前美國反壟斷執法律師艾福瑞·加迪納指出，美國政府在證明谷歌公司傷害了消費者一事上將面臨艱鉅的挑戰。她指出，該訴訟“基本忽略了價格，而將注意力集中在了質量和創新上。”

同時，她表示此類訴訟並不是什麼新鮮事，“但是在過去，如果沒有跡象表明價格影響了市場，反壟斷機構就不願推進案件，這倒是一個轉變。”

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。”

來源：CGTN

責任編輯：範斯騰 SN237