> There are three problems with this argument [that the answer box is anticompetitive]... First, the answer box originally included content scraped from sources like Yelp and other vertical search sites; under pressure from the FTC, driven in part by complaints from Yelp and other vertical search engines, Google agreed to stop doing so in 2013.
This is not really a problem with the argument. Scraping content is just another form of anticompetitive behavior.
> Second, in a telling testament to the power of being on top of search results, Google’s ratings and reviews have improved considerably in the two years since that video was posted...
Also not really a problem. Blocking your competitors is probably going to help you gain more market share, which is a major factor in the quality of crowdsourced content.
> Third — and this is the point of this article — what Yelp seems to want will only serve to make Google stronger.
So, Google is incapable of engaging in anticompetitive behavior by blocking Yelp because they're really only hurting themselves in the long run if you really think about it? This is contorted reasoning. Even if blocking competitors is an ill-advised strategy, it is still anticompetitive behavior.