DOJ charges Google with violations of federal antitrust law

WASHINGTON » The Department of Justice on Tuesday sued Google over allegations that its search and advertising empire violated federal antitrust laws, launching what is likely to be a lengthy, bruising legal war between Washington and Silicon Valley that could have vast implications not only for Google but for the entire tech industry. The federal government’s landmark lawsuit, coming after a year- long investigation, alleges that Google that the tech giant wielded its digital dominance to the detriment of corporate rivals and consumers.

Filed as the United States, et al v. Google in federal court in Washington, the lawsuit contends that Google relied on a mix of special agreements and other problematic business practices to become the market leader in online search, capturing nearly 90% of queries in the United States.

Google gained that “grip on distribution,” the DOJ contends, by paying billions of dollars to become the default search application in Web browsers, on smartphones and across a wide array of other devices and services, including those offered by some of its competitors, such as Apple. With this vast reach, Google also further enriched itself through lucrative ads that appear alongside search results, the DOJ found.

The massive profits from that business allowed Google to maintain its foothold and make it impossible for other search engines to compete, the lawsuit alleges.