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Comment by HWR_14 | Hacker News Reader

Google search, Youtube and many other properties will only work with Chromium as soon as it doesn't mean saying goodbye to iOS users.

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The mindset here is so alien to me. Do people think that the EU is willing to take action against Apple, and yet somehow unwilling to take action against Google?

It's currently happening. Try using YouTube or Google Search on the desktop with, for example, MS Edge. Google will tell you you should download Chrome to work better.

The only reason that's not the case on iOS devices is that they don't have that option.

You have dodged the question. You think that the EU won't take action against Google?

Yes. A better question is why haven’t they taken action yet?

I'm not dodging the question. It is happening now and the EU is not taking action.

They can always go the not-so-subtle sabotage route: https://archive.ph/tgIH9

MS Edge uses Blink under the hood, which is a Chrome fork. The monoculture is all but here, save for dwindling Firefox and Webkit. Everything else that's popular is effectively a Chrome skin, or if you like, Linux distributions packaging up stuff around the kernel (the rendering engine).

I didn't say Chrome would actually make it work better. The fact that MS decided not to maintain their version of Edge is a little frustrating, because more competition would be better. Indeed, that's why I want Safari to remain.

But even reskinned Chrome isn't safe from nag messages to switch to Chrome.

It’s pretty reasonable to believe whatever action it takes will be a long ways away, a period during which the user experience will suffer. You don’t have to believe they’ll never act; you just have to believe they’ll act slowly and poorly. For example, the proposal to force iMessage interoperability which makes little sense and introduces security risks.

I do think it’s unlikely, or at least unlikely to happen before the damage is done and we’re stuck with a permanent browser engine monoculture.

If they were rolling out policy to quash anticompetitive behavior in the browser space along with requiring Apple to open iOS up I’d be much more comfortable. The two should go hand in hand. I don’t want Google to have any opportunity to entrench Chrome/Blink on iOS.

Chrome is already a monopoly. Youtube is a monopoly. Point me to the EU action against them.

Ontop Google has made it impossible for YouTube competitors with it's dominance with device integrations not just mobile.

There's little point as a creator to post on a platform with zero reach.

When one understands what Google is for, the answer becomes clear.

The EU has already shown itself willing to fine Google for antitrust shenanigans: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/14/tech/google-loses-eu-fine...

Google Search, YouTube and many other Google properties are also subject to the same Digital Market Act regulations. Google is a designated gatekeeper, same as Apple.

The DMA largely regulates essential platform services, so it has little to say about YouTube steering users to Chrome, neither of which are platform services on iOS.

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