You are using two different logics for Google and Verizon.
The main point is that Google is by far the #1 search engine, and online advertiser. Once you have the whole market (or most of it) for yourself, you can't go any further. At that point the second best thing you can do is raise the bar for any future competitors.
So as you say Google touches every part of the Internet. But they also have a _lot_ of money. If we end up in a world without net neutrality and ISPs and content providers start to make their own deals, then Google can spend its money to ensure that its services won't get slowed down. However any Google competitor will then have to pay a lot more to compete with Google.
In other words Google can make a deal with Verizon because Google and Verizon don't really compete. And while paying Verizon to ensure good speeds is a disadvantage for Google, it is a lot worse for Google's competitors.
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You are using two different logics for Google and Verizon.
The main point is that Google is by far the #1 search engine, and online advertiser. Once you have the whole market (or most of it) for yourself, you can't go any further. At that point the second best thing you can do is raise the bar for any future competitors.
So as you say Google touches every part of the Internet. But they also have a _lot_ of money. If we end up in a world without net neutrality and ISPs and content providers start to make their own deals, then Google can spend its money to ensure that its services won't get slowed down. However any Google competitor will then have to pay a lot more to compete with Google.
In other words Google can make a deal with Verizon because Google and Verizon don't really compete. And while paying Verizon to ensure good speeds is a disadvantage for Google, it is a lot worse for Google's competitors.