Free speech social media Gab filled lawsuit against Google

[matrix07012]

Gab Declares War On Google, Files Lawsuit
 

This news is already 4 days old, but I haven't seen any major report and I think that people should be aware of it.

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Free speech social media site Gab AI, Inc. filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Google for violations of the Clayton Act and Sherman Act. The lawsuit stems from Google removing Gab from its Google Play Android app store on spurious grounds of “hate speech” arising from posts by users.

Google did not accuse Gab of hate speech, but used third party content as a pretext to justify its own business ends. Gab, a startup, aims to bring “folks together of all races, religions, and creeds who share in the common ideals of Western values, individual liberty and the free exchange and flow of information.”

 

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According to Gab’s attorney, Marc Randazza, Google’s conduct is a straightforward violation of the antitrust laws “Google Play and Android have monopoly power in the app store market, and Google’s apps YouTube and Google+ compete directly against Gab. Google’s intimate partnership with Twitter, which also competes against Gab, makes Google’s control of all Android apps available through the Play Store a serious restraint of trade issue.”
Randazza noted, “regardless of Google’s pretextual justification for removing Gab, the effect is that they used their monopoly power in the app store to block an upstart competitor it in the social media app market, to the detriment of millions of consumers who value free speech.”

 

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Google spends tens of millions of dollars on antitrust lobbying and lawyers each year, far more than Gab’s entire budget. Gab’s Torba acknowledges, “we are going to be outspent and outgunned, but we believe we have the law — and basic principles of fairness — on our side. Torba put it, “This may be a David and Goliath fight, but remember: David won.”

 

I don't know if Gab has the law on it's side, but even if they do, I don't thing they will win against a giant like Google.

I find it funny though that Google has apps with malware on it's market place, but not a harmless social media app.

 

Source: https://medium.com/@getongab/gab-declares-war-on-google-files-lawsuit-b8646d5f65cf

The actual lawsuit: https://www.scribd.com/document/358992508/Gab-AI-Inc-vs-Google-LLC#

[TimeOmnivore]

Let me preface this by saying: I don't use Gab's social media, I don't intend to use it, I don't care if others use it, and I don't care whether it is or isn't on Google's Play Store.

 

But, yeah... seems like Gab AI is really stretching on this one. If Google doesn't want a certain app on their store, they should have the right to remove it. And as for it being competition - Google+ competes with nothing, and, based on Gab's own description of itself, YouTube doesn't seem to be competing with it either. I am not a lawyer, nor do I have anything more than a casual knowledge of the law (particularly in this case), so I won't outright claim this lawsuit has no legs to stand on, but, based on what little knowledge I do have, if there are legs, they are extremely thin and brittle. Also, if Gab's intent is, as they put it, "to bring folks together of all races, religions, and creeds who share in the common ideals of Western values, individual liberty and the free exchange and flow of information”, but people use it for hate speech anyway, I don't see how the company's intent matters at all. If Google doesn't want Gab AI's app to be associated with Google, they should be able to remove it, kind of like they remove stuff like PornHub. Speaking of PornHub, you can still get it and other apps Google doesn't allow on the Play Store (such as Gab's social media app) with extreme ease, so this lawsuit from Gab AI just seems like a huge waste of time and money that could be better spent trying to get more users that will like their platform enough to go get the app elsewhere.

[You_are_a_cunt]

Didn't Amazon have an appstore for Android?

That'd shove their "google has a monopoly on android apps" argument out the window.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

4 minutes ago, revsilverspine said:

Didn't Amazon have an appstore for Android?

That'd shove their "google has a monopoly on android apps" argument out the window.

"Monopoly" describes a very specific situation that, while relevant, is not that ubiquitous. However, anti-trust laws cover many other forms of market power being strict monopolies. The nominal existence of an alternative is not enough to shake off claims of anti-competitive practices, abuse of market position, etc.

 

If you ask me, the whole idea of "app stores", whether by Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc, was begging for at the very least a clarification regarding anti-trust laws, because the scope for anti-competitive practices it opens puts the whole "internet explorer/WMP bundled with Windows" affair to shame.

Having OS makers and "app" makers act also as gate-keepers for the market concentrates power so much that only the lobbying capacity of these companies can explain how it stood uncontested this long.

 

Still, i find it funny that it's being brought up not directly for its potential anti-trust violations themselves, but as a by-product of a hate speech ban  

[You_are_a_cunt]

1 minute ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

"Monopoly" describes a very specific situation that, while relevant, is not that ubiquitous. However, anti-trust laws cover many other forms of market power being strict monopolies. The nominal existence of an alternative is not enough to shake off claims of anti-competitive practices, abuse of market position, etc.

 

If you ask me, the whole idea of "app stores", whether by Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc, was begging for at the very least a clarification regarding anti-trust laws, because the scope for anti-competitive practices it opens puts the whole "internet explorer/WMP bundled with Windows" affair to shame.

Having OS makers and "app" makers act also as gate-keepers for the market concentrates power so much that only the lobbying capacity of these companies can explain how it stood uncontested this long.

 

Still, i find it funny that it's being brought up not directly for its potential anti-trust violations themselves, but as a by-product of a hate speech ban  

One might assume they know they have nothing that can win the lawsuit and they're trying all of their angles.

Desperate, much?

[Misanthrope]

I hope that the law is fairly and evenly applied here overall.

 

That being said I can't say I have any sympathy for Gab: they are basically just concerned about free speech if it's to defend and cuddle Nazis.

[captain_to_fire]

I think Google is just doing what it can do as a private corporation so I don't know where are they getting the idea that it's an anti-trust just because Google removed their app from Google Play. 

[Misanthrope]

30 minutes ago, VegetableStu said:

By Free Speech do they mean "The Right to Speak Freely without Prosecution or Censorship from the Government" or just "I Own My Mouth, Correct Horse Battery Staple"?

Dude, you shouldn't give away your password in public like that

[mynameisjuan]

How can you claim google has a monopoly in THEIR OWN FUCKING OS! Like whats their argument against the APP store for iOS that literally doesnt allow any other stores?

 

Its their OS, their rules. They dont want your app then fuck off, dont sue them over it. 

[Sauron]

"free speech social media site"

 

please, let's not dish out undeserved high titles. It's an unmoderated social media site. A "free speech" site would be a site that allows and promotes freedom of speech in a country where it is not tolerated by the government.

57 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

How can you claim google has a monopoly in THEIR OWN FUCKING OS! Like whats their argument against the APP store for iOS that literally doesnt allow any other stores?

 

Its their OS, their rules. They dont want your app then fuck off, dont sue them over it. 

using one of your products (for example an OS) to heavily favour the sale or adoption of your other products is against some antitrust laws. Microsoft was sued for doing it with internet explorer a while back.

 

The apple app store is technically not a separate product from iOS, whereas the play store exists independently of android and sells more than just apps. If iphones used itunes to install apps then you could argue they are breaching antitrust.

 

With that said it is in their right to remove any app they like from their storefront. This is a separate issue altogether.

[dexT]

They might cave, look at how many lawsuits Google have had this year + actual losses and judgments against them. Like their shady shopping search practices that cost them in the area of $3billion and legal fees.

 

I don't know what gab is but in general social media is cancer. Still, google is coming off as a power hungry, activist agenda NWO type ORG.

 

I just wish sheeple would lay off the google. Lol the cringe when somebody says they need more RAM for Chrome tabs.. Yeah you're a multitasking BEAST.

[mynameisjuan]

2 hours ago, Sauron said:

The apple app store is technically not a separate product from iOS, whereas the play store exists independently of android and sells more than just apps. If iphones used itunes to install apps then you could argue they are breaching antitrust.

This is just BS. In iOS you can ONLY install apps from the app store while in android you can from the play store, samsung store, amazon or even side load it. Saying google is monopolizing by controlling whats in their store is hogwash when you can go to other stores or install the app yourself unlike in iOS where if apple doesnt want your app it will NEVER be able to be installed in iOS.

[PlayStation 2]

Google's got way more money than Gab.ai ever likely will.

If Gab wins, then it's really as simple as that.

If Google wins, then it might be worth looking into why they won.

[Sauron]

16 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

This is just BS. In iOS you can ONLY install apps from the app store while in android you can from the play store, samsung store, amazon or even side load it. Saying google is monopolizing by controlling whats in their store is hogwash when you can go to other stores or install the app yourself unlike in iOS where if apple doesnt want your app it will NEVER be able to be installed in iOS.

I see you read nothing of what I wrote, or read it and understood nothing. The laws on monopoly are more complicated than "they can't be without competition". It is possible for google to legally misuse their position as android's main developers to promote their services and deliberately undermine other entities like gab for example, even without being the only store available. If you had paid attention you'd have noticed that the "problem" gab is pointing at is google's relationship with twitter, a direct competitor of gab. They are saying google is abusing their power to favour twitter. Whether this claim holds any merit or not is for a court to decide. As far as I know, Apple has not specifically favoured any of their partners (or their own other products) on their app store, or deliberately gone after their competitors - but of course, you can sue them whenever you want if you can make a good case for them violating antitrust. Make sure you read the laws carefully before you take action though.

 

On a side note, technically it's possible to install custom apps on iPhones through jailbreaking - while it's not strictly pertinent to this topic it means this statement

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 if apple doesnt want your app it will NEVER be able to be installed in iOS.

is incorrect.

[Sauron]

26 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

Google's got way more money than Gab.ai ever likely will.

If Gab wins, then it's really as simple as that.

If Google wins, then it might be worth looking into why they won.

If they can make a compelling case for antitrust violations there will be more interests behind it than just GAB.