The CEO of travel booking site Trivago believes that the attitudes towards the world’s biggest tech firms have changed. Axel Hefer believes world governments are warming to taking on Google’s stranglehold on the internet, stating: “There is an increasing understanding that you need to set some rules that are specific to the digital world, as you’ve done in the offline world a long time ago.”
Axel Hefer, the CEO of European travel booking firm Trivago, recently stated on CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe that he has seen a “change in sentiment” towards the idea of regulating tech giants such as Google in recent years.
Hefer stated: “There is an increasing understanding that you need to set some rules that are specific to the digital world, as you’ve done in the offline world a long time ago. Over the next couple of years, we do expect some more rules and regulation and that should lead to more innovation-based competition, rather than increasing economies of scale that just dominate the different verticals.”
Hefer continued to say that “mega platforms control our daily life” and it’s “almost impossible” not to use these platforms to some degree.
“The issue that we are facing is that certain monopolies exist on certain parts of the value chain that are leveraged into other products and other businesses,” said Hefer. “That is obviously harming competition and harming innovation.”
Google has previously had a strained relationship with many of the world’s largest online travel companies who rely on the firm’s search engine for business. Trivago and other travel firms are concerned that Google is trying to become a dominant player in the online travel world. This worry started as far back as 2010 after Google purchased ITA Software, the leading platform for flight data.
Johannes Reck, the CEO of travel agency GetYourGuide, told CNBC last year: “Google has better travel data than any other company on the planet. We see Google aggressively moving forward trying to get content from other companies in the travel space in order to build their own products.”
In November, a coalition of 135 tech firms including Tripadvisor, Booking.com and Trivago wrote to the EU’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager calling on her to end Google’s alleged favoring of its own services over rivals in web searches.
Google denied these claims, stating that it gives “preference (to) specific companies or commercial rivals over others.” A Google spokesperson added: “People expect Google to give them the most relevant, high-quality search results that they can trust.” They added that it provides “helpful services which create more choice and competition for Europeans.”
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com