‘SEARCH’ & DESTROY
Feds slap Silicon Valley behemoth with lawsuit to break its ‘monopoly power’
Monopoly? Google it!
The Justice Department brought an anti-trust lawsuit against the search and web giant Tuesday, leveling charges that could reshape the internet itself.
The suit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. alleges that Google has unfairly dominated the online search industry by stifling competition, which harms consumers.
The suit also charges that Google uses billions of dollars from advertisers to pay phone manufacturers to ensure it is the default search engine on browsers.
Google — which is worth $1 trillion — is used for 60% of all search queries and 80% of searches on mobile devices, according to the government.
“Google no longer competes only on the merits but instead uses its monopoly power — and billions in monopoly profits — to lock up key pathways to search on mobile phones, browsers, and next generation devices, depriving rivals of distribution and scale,” said Attorney General Bill Barr.
“The end result is that no one can feasibly challenge Google’s dominance in search and search advertising,” Barr said.
“This lack of competition harms users, advertisers, and small businesses in the form of fewer choices, reduced quality (including on metrics like privacy), higher advertising prices, and less innovation.”
Justice Department officials did not specify what remedies they’ll seek in court. A judge will ultimately make the call.
Google called the lawsuit “deeply flawed” and said people use the search giant “because they choose to, not because they’re forced to.”
“This lawsuit would do nothing to help consumers. To the contrary, it would artificially prop up lower-quality search alternatives, raise phone prices, and make it harder for people to get the search services they want to use,” Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker said in a statement.
Eleven states, all of which lean Republican, joined the lawsuit. States controlled by Democrats, including New York, are conducting a separate anti-trust investigation into Google.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement that her investigation was ongoing.
The growing dominance of ttech companies like Amazon, GGoogle, Facebook and Apple has bbeen the subject of rare bipartisan ccriticism in Washington.
President Trump has slammed tthe companies for supposed bias aagainst conservatives, which is tthe subject of a separate federal pprobe. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has pitched a plan to bbreak up big tech companies.
The Google lawsuit marks the government’s most significant act to protect competition since its groundbreaking case against Microsoft more than 20 years ago.
That case took more than a decade to resolve.
The Justice Department ssaid in a news release tthat its charges against MMicrosoft paved the way ffor a new generation of tech companies, including Google.
“Millions of Americans rely on the Internet and online platforms for their daily lives. Competition in this industry is vitally important, which is why today’s challenge against Google — the gatekeeper of the Internet — for violating antitrust laws is a monumental case both for the Department of Justice and for the American people,” Barr said.