- A bipartisan group of attorneys general plans to file an antitrust suit against Google this week, Politico reported Tuesday evening.
- According to Politico, the indictment would accuse Google of designing its search engine to favor its own specialized search products over the specialized search tools of competitors.
- This latest legal challenge follows a recent series of antitrust lawsuits filed against technology giants, including a lawsuit filed by the DOJ against Google in October.
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
Google will soon be facing a new federal antitrust case, this time over the design of the search engine, Politico reported Tuesday.
According to Politico, a bipartisan group of attorney general led by Colorado Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser and Republican Attorney General of Nebraska Doug Peterson plan to file a complaint against Google as early as Thursday.
The states’ complaint is expected to accuse Google of anti-competitive behavior by tweaking its search engine to improve results for its own products, while hurting results for competitors providing specialized search results, Politico reported.
A Google spokesperson declined to comment on the planned lawsuit.
Consumers often start with their decisions about where to shop online, search for jobs, book travel accommodations, and make plans to dine with a Google search. From there, they can visit sites like Amazon and Etsy, LinkedIn and Monster.com, TripAdvisor and Airbnb, or Yelp and OpenTable – or Google’s own products, such as Google Shopping, Google Careers, Google Flights, and Google Maps.
Many competing search results providers have argued that Google is unfairly using control of its search engine to give its own specialized search products a premium placement, divert users away from its competitors, or force them to pay Google for ads to secure top-notch real estate. to set.
The planned lawsuit stems from an investigation launched in September 2019 by attorneys general from 48 states, Washington, DC and Puerto Rico.
It also comes on the heels of another major antitrust case filed against Google by the Justice Department in October involving 12 states (California joined earlier this month).
That lawsuit alleged that Google is using a network of illegal, exclusive business deals that disadvantage smaller competitors, building an unfair advantage in search and online advertising, which is the biggest legal challenge Google has faced and is likely to result in a lawsuit that could last for years. .
In a blog post, Kent Walker, Google’s Senior Vice President of Global Affairs, called the lawsuit “very flawed.”
Politico reported that some states from the DOJ case may also agree to the upcoming lawsuit as it focuses on a different aspect of Google’s search dominance.
Read more: 7 attorneys helping Google fight historic antitrust charges in a battle that could take years, from in-house professionals to DOJ veterans
Federal and state regulators have become increasingly aggressive in investigating major tech companies about possible monopolistic behavior, filing major lawsuits in recent months that could have huge consequences for those companies and their users, customers and competitors.
Last week, Facebook was hit by two massive antitrust lawsuits – one from the Federal Trade Commission and one from a group of 46 states – both attempting to make up the social media company’s Instagram and WhatsApp.
European regulators, long ahead of their US counterparts in tackling technology companies over antitrust issues, have also filed lawsuits, opened investigations and issued fines against technology giants such as Amazon, Apple and Facebook.
Download the latest Google stock quote here.