A Ladder of Investment to Competition for Online Search Services

Online search has long been dominated by Google Search. In several competition and regulatory proceedings across the globe, various remedies to increase competition are being discussed, including data sharing obligations or a ban on the exclusive default settings of Google Search. A key factor for the success of any remedy package will be the ability of competitors to add value by differentiating their services from Google Search. Up to now, almost all search engine competitors depend on Google’s or Microsoft’s search results by means of syndication agreements, as they cannot feasibly set up their own search engine infrastructure from scratch. To allow market entry and growth across all sections of the search value chain, the remedy package must enable competitors to build up their own infrastructure step by step, in accordance with the success of their market entry. The article outlines how the Ladder of Investment approach, successfully implemented in the telecommunications sector, can be applied to this end. The paper aims to provide guidance on how such a regulatory approach could be implemented either by means of new statutory regulations, such as in the United Kingdom, or through remedies imposed in competition cases on the monopolization of search services.