The Case Against Google Was Always Weak

[Commentary] Now that the Federal Trade Commission has completed a settlement with Google, the search company's competitors who precipitated the FTC's investigation are crying foul that their shameless attempt at rent-seeking fell short. Unable to out-innovate and out-compete, rivals of Google such as Microsoft formed FairSearch, a lobbying group that first demanded the FTC look into Google and then tried to influence the agency throughout its nearly two-year-long investigation. Now that a settlement has been announced—which preserves competition and protects consumers but is short of the "death penalty" that Google's detractors had demanded—FairSearch is threatening to take its case to the Justice Department for a second round. As a former FTC chairman, I don't believe that we should give any credence to these complaints. The agency spent countless hours and resources prying into every aspect of Google's business, with the company's competitors urging them on every step of the way. I know that if the FTC had found a sustainable antitrust violation, the commission would absolutely have pursued it after investing so much effort. But the FTC is not going to bring a case it cannot win and in the process squander resources it might have used to protect competition and consumers—and all the while risk eroding its enforcement power for years to come.