On DMA eve, Google whines, Apple sounds alarms, and TikTok wants out

Pete Hahnloser@beehaw.org to Technology@beehaw.org – 220 points – On DMA eve, Google whines, Apple sounds alarms, and TikTok wants out
arstechnica.com

As a general rule, when trillion-dollar companies don't like regulation, it simply means they're admitting the rules are good for their customers.

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"Changes to our Search results may send more traffic to large intermediaries and aggregators, and less traffic to direct suppliers like hotels, airlines, merchants and restaurants," Bethell wrote.

This is exactly what is happening right now. Every time I search for some random stuff on Google, I get eMag links (eMag is basically the biggest online retailer in my country. Kinda like Amazon).

They usually sound like:

Looking for [query]? Choose from the eMag offer

And then I get redirected to their search page if I click on it.

When we were trying to book a hotel, my partner clicked on the top link of a Google search, which was of course a sponsored link and took her to some completely off-brand intermediary whose website was designed to mimic the appearance of the hotel's. She completed the booking there before ever realizing it wasn't the hotel itself, and when I quoted the same stay directly with the hotel it wound up being some $100-$200 cheaper.

I had to have a lengthy phone call with their customer support and exchange a few emails before they finally agreed to refund us. I suppose we're lucky they even had a reachable customer service, but I was and remain infuriated by the conditions that created the situation in the first place.