So the matter we must take up is that of equal opportunity for those wishing to increase their readership, (whether for influence or monetary reasons)?
That's my interpretation. In this sense, are Google and many other "given" sites on the web a barrier to having a conversation about such measures, because of their power?
Google would seem to want this a more open web. I suspect they're starting to fear everyone using Facebook for everything, thus investing in Wordpress. Though they haven't been big supporters of their own blogging platform.
A lot of the social media Giants like you to keep your content on their own site, basically the longer your on Facebook/twitter the more ads they can show you. Google drops ads all over the web (except Facebook and twitter) so they don't care where you go.