So I read yesterday in the Associated Press that Google got sued by the great state of Texas. No big news so far, huge companies like Google are getting sued all the time and well, it’s Texas after all. However, the reason for the lawsuit – “[...] Google is manipulating its search results to stifle competition.” – made me chuckle and ask: “So what?”

Last time I checked, every company acted in its own interest. Why is it such a big deal if Google’s doing the same thing everybody else’s doing? Well, apparently because Google is such an important company. As the article correctly points out, the position in the Google rankings can make or break a company. The authorities seem to have a problem with the fact that Google “[...] has been favoring its own services in its results instead of rival websites.”

If you fail to see the difference between this claim and the first one, you’re… pretty much right. Again, Google is “just” taking advantage of its position as the market leader of search engines. Why blame them? Well, for some awkward reasons, a search engine isn’t allowed to show you the results it likes the most, it has to show you the results… err… somebody likes the most. With that somebody being… everybody. Or at least the Texas Attorney General.

Now when I first raised this question on Facebook, a friend of mine (Donato) replied and said that everybody is applying his own scale to businesses all the time. Like when you’re taking a train of Deutsche Bahn, you expect the train to be on time and cleaned up properly. First of all, that’s not true (I don’t expect Deutsche Bahn to be on time), secondly, I’m paying for that service. And if I’m not happy with it, I can always opt to rent a car. In other words: Pick some different provider of the service I’m looking for. The same is true for the search engine market. I don’t have to use the Google search (I, personally, just prefer to). I can also use Bing or some of the other search engines out there.

I really don’t know… to me, the fact that this lawsuit even exists is like saying that people aren’t smart enough to realize that there are other companies out there providing the same service Google does. So anyway, let’s hear from you. What do you think about this lawsuit?