![]() And so we simply ask the question, what about search neutrality? I mean, you know, Google itself has supported things like net neutrality. I mean, it's hard to imagine Congress writing that into a law. And so if Google doesn't have the best answer - which, by the way, it often doesn't in local - it should be willing to surface, you know, other resources with the same prominence it surfaces its own content. STOPPELMAN: I mean, in our specific vertical, when you're searching for a pediatrician when a child is sick, we just think you should get the best of what's on the Web. SHAPIRO: Tell me about what regulation that you would be comfortable with would look like. And so they actually degraded their search results knowingly to push their own product and make sure that that competitor, you know, stayed in its cage. So in the case of Google, you know, it's actually come out in documents that they were fearful of Yelp in the local space. STOPPELMAN: You know, I think it's about creating a level playing field - making sure that if you're a monopoly, you can't block startups, you can't block innovative competitors and protect your monopoly. Broadly speaking, what do you think a more fair world would look like in this arena? SHAPIRO: You've been focusing on Google, but presumably, anything Washington does would apply to the tech industry as a whole. And I think that's troubling to both sides. And the decisions that they're making - the algorithm decisions - actually affect what people think and what they see. I mean, I just think people realize that just a couple companies control a massive amount of human attention. SHAPIRO: You mean the election interference. STOPPELMAN: I think, you know, in the wake of 2016. You know, I began down the path of talking to regulators back in 2011, and there does seem to be a lot more political on both sides to really scrutinize Google, as well as other big tech firms. STOPPELMAN: The mood in Washington is quite different from when we first started on this issue. Tell me about the kind of responses you got. ![]() SHAPIRO: You were on Capitol Hill last week talking with lawmakers. That's dependent on the content that they've collected versus the content that other sites, like Yelp, might have. You want to know, where is there a trusted doctor? And Google might not be able to provide that. But when you're looking for a pediatrician and your child is sick, you want the best results. And I think, you know, if a consumer is typing in 2 plus 2, they should absolutely see the answer is 4. SHAPIRO: But Google says that it is just giving users what they want, which is results to the question without having to go to another page - Yelp - and ask the question again. And it makes it really hard to find Yelp these days in search results. And they actually bias their Web search such that their property, Google Maps, shows up first. STOPPELMAN: Well, over the years, Google has built out a similar property to Yelp, which is in Google Maps these days. SHAPIRO: And what does that mean for you, Yelp, a company that offers reviews of local businesses, restaurants, et cetera? And then if you go on your iPhone, you even end up on Google when you type into that search box in Safari. You know, they have the dominant browser, Chrome, which a lot of people search through. You really can't search the Web without turning to them. STOPPELMAN: Oh, well, I think it's obvious that Google is a monopoly. SHAPIRO: To start just briefly, why do you believe that Google is a monopoly? The review service has been saying that Google is trampling competitors, and Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman joins us now. One company that has been pushing for this kind of oversight for years is Yelp. There are three hearings looking at how much power Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google have. Today's events in Congress suggest that lawmakers are getting serious about tech giants.
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