Google Monopoly: Searching for a Tech Competition Precedent

By Kaylee Yang — You open your phone to check the results of last night’s basketball game. Open Safari. Tap the address bar. Type in “March Madness results”. A custom widget appears. As you get ready for your day, you ask Siri for the weather. She relays what Google told her: sunny with showers in the afternoon. Later that day, holed up due to the rain, you decide to do some online shopping for your friend’s birthday. You look up “handcrafted wooden jewelry” and the top results you get are ads from different jewelers with eye-catching images. You browse them, but none seem to fit your friend’s style so you give up for the day. As you wind down, you ask your Google Home Assistant for a honey substitute to put in your tea. She responds that a teaspoon of maple syrup should do the trick. You finish making your tea and head to bed.