Google CEO reacts to US antitrust probes stating scrutinizing large companies need to be balanced with supporting it.
“I worry that if you regulate for the sake of regulating it, it has a lot of unintended consequences,” stated Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google Inc.
- The U.S. Justice Department is planning an antitrust investigation into Google subsidiary, Alphabet.
- Google CEO has cautioned against the idea of scrutinizing tech giants “for the sake of regulating.”
- The anti-trust probe is reportedly against the company’s search business.
- Alphabet is one of the most highly valued publicly traded companies in the world and government pushback can hit its core business.
The Department of Justice is planning to take strict action against potential antitrust on the company’s search business. The DOJ and Federal Trade Commission are said to be taking responsibility of Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon.
Google has already faced the same issue in Europe also. European Union regulators have moved forward with antitrust probes of Google’s advertising business and penalized them with €1.5bn.
Pichai said that it is “perfectly fine” for companies like Google to be scrutinized when they get big enough. “Scrutiny is right, and we will participate constructively in these discussions,” he said.
Don’t break down businesses, support them
According to Pichai, Google and other large companies are able to invest in futuristic technologies like AI, robotics, machine learning, and virtual reality.
Pichai said there is no doubt that large companies like Google deserve scrutiny. He said that many countries around the world aspire to emulate the success in Silicon Valley – which happened because the Government backed the tech companies. Pichai advocated that it is important for the Government to come up with a balance between supporting and scrutinizing large companies.
