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1. jennyy+KE1[view] [source] 2021-02-08 18:38:05
>>benhur+(OP)
We need regulations to enforce adequate customer service and SLAs in these huge companies.

Google is getting away with this behavior because of their monopolistic behavior. If they had competition, they would be spending billions on customer support, but because they have a monopoly, they can get away with having virtually none. This is their way of saving money and taking advantage of their monopoly. It's a shadow version of monopolistic behavior where the absence of services can be done because we have no choice. We need to politicize this issue.

Facebook is exactly the same way.

When a company reaches such dominance, and when people completely rely on a company like we all rely on Google, Facebook, et al., then we need regulations to prevent what is happening right now, which is using their monopoly to make life easier for them by not spending any money on customer support.

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2. robotr+CG1[view] [source] 2021-02-08 18:49:30
>>jennyy+KE1
For counterpoint, they provide products like Gmail for free at point of use because the support costs are very low (amongst other factors).

Would you prefer government change this balance by regulation, or let users decide what they want?

Many users choose very cheap typical service with a small but real risk of misery. Perhaps it's because they don't understand how miserable it can get. It's important that the bad experiences see public light so people's choices are informed.

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3. bluefi+eH1[view] [source] 2021-02-08 18:52:23
>>robotr+CG1
Counter-counterpoint

They provide products like gmail for free because it allows them insight into people's communication which they can then leverage with search and ad networking to make way more than they could simply selling email services.

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4. robotr+bJ1[view] [source] 2021-02-08 19:01:02
>>bluefi+eH1
Sure, that's absolutely true. But the margin would be eroded if they provided much better customer service for unpaid Gmail. At some service level, the margin would be negative.
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5. bluefi+FK1[view] [source] 2021-02-08 19:06:54
>>robotr+bJ1
This is a bit of a tautology. Of course if they spend more on service than the service makes them the margin is negative.

But let's not lose sight of the fact this is one of the biggest companies in the world we are talking about. A company that could probably treat the entire GDP of a small country as a rounding error.

That margin you're referring to is very likely enormous and even if it cost them 10% of said margin to offer better service for it, they would still be making absurd amounts of money.

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