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You are hereAt Google -- no one can hear you cry for Yelp!
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Thu, 2010-08-26 17:01
Google has purged Google Places of all Yelp local business reviews in Google Places -- per TechCrunch: "It is confirmed, Google has changed the classification of Yelp's reviews, according to a Google spokesperson. Until further notice, don't expect to find Yelp in the "reviews" section..."
By way of background, Yelp is the leading review site for local businesses and is Google Places' main competitor. Yelp is also the company Google tried unsuccessfully to buy around the first of the year.
This situation drips with irony as Google claims to be a champion of net neutrality yet is unabashedly blocking access to, and discriminating against, some of the most popular local Internet content that users most choose in the market.
Even the FTC should be able to spot the Google anti-competitive discrimination problem here; it is simple.
Hopefully the DOJ and the EU will see how Google Places anti-competitive treatment of Yelp is similar to its Googleopolization via search discrimination MO vis a vis: TradeComet, MyTriggers, Foundem, Navx, Ejustice.FR, Ciao, StudioBriefing.com, Expedia, etc.
The open question is how long will it take for antitrust enforcers here, or on the other side of the pond, to investigate and confront Google's increasingly unabashed monopolization behavior.
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