US:
- https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/report-antitrust-violation
- antitrust@ftc.gov
EU:
- https://competition-policy.ec.europa.eu/antitrust/contact_en
- comp-greffe-antitrust@ec.europa.eu
UK:
- https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tell-the-cma-about-a-competition...
- general.enquiries@cma.gov.uk
India:
I would like to bring your attention to Google’s recent proposal to add a feature to its Chrome (Chromium family) of browsers called Web Environment Integrity. This provides a mechanism to reinforce Google’s already dominant browser market position by creating a technological control that can be used to nullify a user’s choice of browser, device and operating system. This technology also has the potential for abuse by preventing users from using browser extensions that can enhance security by blocking unwanted and potentially malicious content, as well as browser extensions that help vulnerable users with enhanced accessibility needs, such as color blindness and visual impairment.
Google’s dominant, near-monopoly position in the browser market already harms me as a consumer by reducing browser choices and preventing a competitive market for developing new browsers. Allowing Google to include this feature will reduce my browser choices and consolidate the browser market even further, and it is incumbent on [INSERT AUTHORITY HERE] to take action against this abusive behavior.IANAL, the EU is also on the right track with antitrust but unfortunately seems very weak in terms of penalties and enforcement.
At this point, anything we can do to slow them down in any jurisdiction in a win. Even if antitrust enforcement is weak making Google at least have to defend this in a pro-forma way I think helps.
Google has proposed a new Web Environment Integrity standard, outlined here: https://github.com/RupertBenWiser/Web-Environment-Integrity/....
This standard would allow Google applications to block users who are not using Google products like Chrome or Android, and encourages other web developers to do the same, with the goal of eliminating ad blockers and competing web browsers.
Google has already begun implementing this in their browser here: https://github.com/chromium/chromium/commit/6f47a22906b28994....
Basic facts:
1. Google is a developer of popular websites such as google.com and youtube.com (currently the two most popular websites in the world according to SimilarWeb)
2. Google is the developer of the most popular browser in the world, Chrome, with around 65% of market share. Most other popular browsers are based on Chromium, also developed primarily by Google.
3. Google is the developer of the most popular mobile operating system in the world, Android, with around 70% of market share.
Currently, Google's websites can be viewed on any web-standards-compliant browser on a device made by any manufacturer. This WEI proposal would allow Google websites to reject users that are not running a Google-approved browser on a Google-approved device. For example, Google could require that Youtube or Google Search can only be viewed using an official Android app or the Chrome browser, thereby noncompetitively locking consumers into using Google products while providing no benefit to those consumers.
Google is also primarily an ad company, with the majority of its revenue coming from ads. Google's business model is challenged by browsers that do not show ads the way Google intends. This proposal would encourage any web developer using Google's ad services to reject users that are not running a verified Google-approved version of Chrome, to ensure ads are viewed the way the advertiser wishes. This is not a hypothetical hidden agenda, it is explicitly stated in the proposal:
"Users like visiting websites that are expensive to create and maintain, but they often want or need to do it without paying directly. These websites fund themselves with ads, but the advertisers can only afford to pay for humans to see the ads, rather than robots. This creates a need for human users to prove to websites that they're human, sometimes through tasks like challenges or logins."
The proposed solution here is to allow web developers to reject any user that cannot prove they have viewed Google-served ads with their own human eyes.
It is essential to combat this proposal now, while it is still in an early stage. Once this is rolled out into Chrome and deployed around the world, it will be extremely difficult to rollback. It may be impossible to prevent this proposal if Google is allowed to continue owning the entire stack of website, browser, operating system, and hardware.
Thank you for your consideration of this important issue.
For any experiencing barriers for writing the email, my method is below; Bing Chat generated an excellent email that only needed a bit of editing.
1. Open https://vivaldi.com/blog/googles-new-dangerous-web-environme... page in (ugh) Edge.
2. Open Bing Chat sidebar (top right corner); it auto-summarizes the article.
3: My prompt: Using the that webpage summary, please write a letter reporting Alphabet for antitrust violation. Please include the following [this language is from the ftc.gov site]:
Q: What companies or organizations are engaging in conduct you believe violates the antitrust laws? A: Alphabet
Q: Why do you believe this conduct may have harmed competition in violation of the antitrust laws? A: [use the article]
Q:What is your role in the situation? A: I'm a user of the Firefox browser
[edit: line breaks for readability]
Here you can specifically create new antitrust complaints.