Iran Press/America: According to the New York Times, People in the European nation preferred Seznam, a search engine in Prague, in 1996, two years before Google. For about 15 years, its focus on its local market provided a feel-good story about a hometown underdog prevailing against a rising global titan.
But when smartphones became commonplace, most of them with Google installed as the default search, Seznam’s luck ran out. Google today controls more than 80 percent of the Czech search market, and Seznam is a marginal search engine with more of a focus on media.
Since its fall, Seznam has been a continual thorn in Google’s side, including when it joined a complaint against the search giant that led to a record fine. Now it is also helping to inspire laws to crimp the power of companies like Google, with consequences that go far beyond the Czech Republic.
European lawmakers are putting the final touches on a law protecting businesses like Seznam by preventing large tech companies from unfairly bundling services to box out rivals. It would require Google and other tech giants to make services from smaller firms more readily available to users.
The new rules, expected to pass by June, would affect how Apple and Google operate app stores, Amazon sells products online, and Meta and Google sell online advertising.
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