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Wednesday 21 OctOber 2020
Justice Dept. files landmark antitrust case against Google

By MICHAEL BALSAMO and fault option on smart-
MARCY GORDON phones and in some inter-
Associated Press net browsers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The A recent report from a
Justice Department on House Judiciary subcom-
Tuesday sued Google for mittee concluded that
abusing its dominance in Google has monopoly
online search and adver- power in the market for
tising — the government's search. It said the compa-
most significant attempt to ny established its position
protect competition since in several markets through
its groundbreaking case acquisition, snapping up
against Microsoft more successful technologies
than 20 years ago. that other businesses had
And it could just be an developed — buying an
opening salvo. Other major estimated 260 companies
tech companies including in 20 years. "It is critical that
Apple, Amazon and Face- the Justice Department's
book are under investiga- lawsuit focuses on Google's
tion at both the Justice De- monopolization of search
partment and the Federal and search advertising,
Trade Commission. while also targeting the
"Google is the gateway to anticompetitive business
the internet and a search In this Sept. 24, 2019, file photo, a woman walks below a Google sign on the campus in Mountain practices Google is using
advertising behemoth," U.S. View, Calif. to leverage this monopoly
Deputy Attorney General Associated Press into other areas, such as
Jeff Rosen told reporters. "It er. servatives that the search The company owns the maps, browsers, video, and
has maintained its monop- Google vowed to defend giant is biased against con- leading web browser in voice assistants," Rep. Da-
oly power through exclu- itself and responded imme- servatives and suppresses Chrome, the world's larg- vid Cicilline of Rhode Island
sionary practices that are diately via tweet: "Today's their viewpoints. est smartphone operating said in a statement.
harmful to competition." lawsuit by the Department Rosen told reporters that al- system in Android, the top Columbia Law professor
Lawmakers and consumer of Justice is deeply flawed. legations of anti-conserva- video site in YouTube and Tim Wu called the suit al-
advocates have long ac- People use Google be- tive bias are "a totally sepa- the most popular digital most a carbon copy of the
cused Google of abusing cause they choose to -- not rate set of concerns" from mapping system. Some government's 1998 law-
its dominance in online because they're forced to the issue of competition. critics have singled out suit against Microsoft. He
search and advertising. The or because they can't find Sally Hubbard, an antitrust YouTube and Android as said via email that the U.S.
case filed in federal court in alternatives." expert who runs enforce- among Google businesses government has a decent
Washington, D.C., alleges Eleven states, all with Re- ment strategy at the Open that should be considered chance of winning. "How-
that Google uses billions publican attorneys gen- Markets Institute, said it was for divestiture. ever, the likely remedies
of dollars collected from eral, joined the federal a welcome surprise to see Google, whose corporate — i.e., knock it off, no more
advertisers to pay phone government in the lawsuit. the Justice Department's parent Alphabet Inc. has making Google the default
manufacturers to en- But several other states de- openness to the possibility a market value just over $1 — are not particularly likely
sure Google is the default murred. of structurally breaking up trillion, controls about 90% to transform the broader
search engine on brows- The attorneys general of Google, and not just im- of global web searches. tech ecosystem."
ers. That stifles competition New York, Colorado, Iowa, posing conditions on its be- Barring a settlement, a trial Other advocates, how-
and innovation from small- Nebraska, North Carolina, havior as has happened in would likely begin late next ever, said the Justice De-
er upstart rivals to Google Tennessee and Utah re- Europe. year or in 2022. partment's timing — it's only
and harms consumers by leased a statement Mon- "Traditionally, Republicans The company, based in two weeks to Election Day
reducing the quality of day saying they have not are hesitant to speak of Mountain View, California, — smacked of politics. The
search and limiting privacy concluded their investiga- breakups," she said. "Per- argues that although its government's "narrow fo-
protections and alternative tion into Google and would sonally, I'll be very disap- businesses are large, they cus and alienation of the
search options, the govern- want to consolidate their pointed if I see a settle- are useful and beneficial bipartisan state attorneys
ment alleges. case with the DOJ's if they ment. Google has shown to consumers. It maintains general is evidence of an
Critics contend that multi- decided to file. "It's a bi- it won't adhere to any be- that its services face ample unserious approach driven
billion-dollar fines and man- partisan statement," said havioral conditions." competition and have un- by politics and is likely to
dated changes in Google's spokesman Fabien Levy of The argument for reining in leashed innovations that result in nothing more than
practices imposed by Eu- the New York State attorney Google has gathered force help people manage their a choreographed slap on
ropean regulators in re- general's office. "There's as the company stretched lives. the wrist for Google," Alex
cent years weren't severe things that still need to be far beyond its 1998 roots as Most of Google's services Harman, a competition
enough and that structural fleshed out, basically," Pres- a search engine governed are offered for free in ex- policy advocate at Public
changes are needed for ident Donald Trump's ad- by the motto "Don't Be Evil." change for personal infor- Citizen, said in a statement.
Google to change its con- ministration has long had It's since grown into a di- mation that helps it sell its Republicans and Demo-
duct. The Justice Depart- Google in its sights. One versified goliath with online ads. crats have accelerated
ment didn't lay out specific of Trump's top economic tentacles that scoop up In a Tuesday presentation their criticism of Big Tech in
remedies, although it asked advisers said two years personal data from billions with a handful of report- recent months, although
the court to order structural ago that the White House of people via services rang- ers, Google argued that its sometimes for different rea-
relief "as needed to remedy was considering whether ing from search, video and services have helped hold sons. It's unclear what the
any anticompetitive harm." Google searches should maps to smartphone soft- down the prices of smart- status of the government's
That opens the door to pos- be subject to government ware. That data helps feed phones and that consum- suit against Google would
sible fundamental chang- regulation. Trump has often the advertising machine ers can easily switch away be if a Joe Biden adminis-
es such as a spinoff of the criticized Google, recycling that has turned Google from services like Google tration were to take over
company's Chrome brows- unfounded claims by con- into a behemoth. Search even if it's the de- next year. q