5 takeaways from the government’s lawsuit
WASHINGTON » The Justice Department’s lawsuit against Google alleging antitrust violations marks the government’s most significant attempt to protect competition since its groundbreaking case against Microsoft more than 20 years ago. The lawsuit claims Google has abused its dominance in online search and advertising to stifle competition and harm consumers.
Here are five things to know about the lawsuit and what might be coming down the line.
Government brands Google a monopoly
After years of hemming and hawing over the matter, the U.S. government has now formally described Google as an illegal monopolist.
Just being a monopolist isn’t illegal. And that’s been good for Google, since it dominates roughly 90% of the market for internet searches. But abuse of monopoly can easily land a company in trouble.
The Justice Department went there, calling Google a “monopoly gatekeeper for the internet” that has used “anticompetitive tactics” to maintain and extend monopolies in both search and search ads. The lawsuit alleges that Google stifled competition and innovation from smaller upstarts and harmed consumers by reducing the quality and variety of search options — and that the company also uses its monopoly money to lock in its favorable position on smartphones and in browsers.
Google: Free! Free is good! You like free!
Unsurprisingly, Google sees this differently. The company argues that its services are useful and beneficial to consumers, that they face ample competition and that they’ve unleashed innovations that help people manage their lives.
What’s more, those services are free for consumers to use, at least in monetary terms. What Google doesn’t often remind its users is that it’s handsomely reimbursed by all the search ads it runs on behalf of outside advertisers, which it targets using the personal information its users