On Thursday, a bipartisan group of 35 states in the US – along with Washington DC, Guam, and Puerto Rico – filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, which accuses the company of illegally using rights. its market force to ensure a dominant position in the search field in an anti-competitive way.
” Our economy is more concentrated than ever, and consumers are suffocated when they are deprived of choice over valuable products and services ” – Phil Weiser, Attorney General Colorado, said. ” Google’s anticompetitive actions have defended its search monopoly and eliminated competitors, depriving consumers of the benefits that could be gained from other competitors’ choices, Reducing innovation, and undermining new companies or other expansion plans ”
At a press conference to release information regarding the lawsuit, Weiser and a bipartisan group comprising attorneys general from Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee, showed how Google pressed down competitors that also provided internet search service. The antitrust lawsuit also alleges that Google signed anti-competitive contracts with companies like Apple to pre-install its search engine instead of that of other competitors.
In the face of those anti-competitive contracts and practices, the lawsuit affirms that Google has created a ” solid and overarching monopoly ” in the field of search, accounting for nearly 90% of all internet searches in the US. While there are no competitors holding more than 7% and in the last decade no new company has entered the market that achieves more than 1% market share each year. The lawsuit also alleges that Google is ” amassing an enormous collection of data in order to more firmly build barriers to expansion plans and new companies ” through research projects on visit patterns. New detectors using smart technology to illegally reinforce monopoly position.
This is the third consecutive antitrust lawsuit against Google announced within the past 2 months in the US.
On Wednesday, 10 Republican state attorneys general filed an antitrust lawsuit accusing Google of violating antitrust laws by taking advantage of its monopoly in advertising technology to “crush” competition. and exorbitant fees for publishers – Facebook has also been named an accomplice in these illegal schemes. Earlier, in October, the US Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit accusing Google of arranging to illegally protect the monopoly on search and search engine advertising.
Over the past decade, Google and a host of other Silicon Valley giants have been allowed to concentrate vast amounts of market power in the hands of private companies that have had less and less of an experience. legal barriers in America The European Union (EU), which has been struggling with Google’s antitrust violations for more than a decade, has recently sentenced Google to three times with a total of nearly $ 10 billion since five. 2017 because of anti-competitive moves to maintain monopoly. Those penalties, along with EU rulings, are too small to affect Google’s monopoly, let alone encourage increased competition.
A similar question was raised at a press conference on Thursday, and Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson replied that since companies like Google are classified as US corporations, ” they are. I have a broader approach that can be done . “ Peterson added that ” penalties for such large companies are sometimes seen only as the cost of doing business “. As a result, prosecutors are looking for “broader” measures such as forcibly withdrawing illegal agreements and ending anti-competitive moves that are of key importance in the firm’s monopoly. .
Google isn’t the only tech giant that’s under scrutiny. The Federal Trade Commission and 40 US states last week filed an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook’s illegal anti-competitive moves to dominate social media. Prosecutors in this lawsuit are considering forcing Facebook to withdraw any illegal agreements that violate antitrust laws, especially the Instagram and WhatsApp takeovers.
Prosecutors also said at Thursday’s press conference and in their lawsuit that they would seek to force Google to withdraw similar illegal agreements, which are made to ensure its dominance .
Reference: VICE