Why the US government is suing Google – By Shirin Ghaffary and Rani Molla (VOX) / Oct 20 2020
The Department of Justice says the company’s anti-competitive business practices harm Americans.
After a 14-month investigation, the United States government filed a landmark lawsuit against Google on Tuesday, arguing that the search giant used unfair practices to preserve its search and search advertising monopoly.
The Department of Justice and 11 states filed the lawsuit against Google in a federal court, accusing Google of using money it makes from its dominant position in search to pay other companies to help maintain its lead and block out competitors. Google pays Apple billions each year to be the default browser on Safari, for example, and search comes preloaded on devices using Google’s Android operating system.
“Two decades ago, Google became the darling of Silicon Valley as a scrappy startup with an innovative way to search the emerging internet,” states the suit. “That Google is long gone. The Google of today is a monopoly gatekeeper for the internet.”
In a press briefing, Justice Department officials said the government is stepping in to protect access to a free market for customers and Google’s competitors. They argue that Google has illegally maintained its monopoly through exclusive business deals that put its own search and browser on phones and keep out competitors.
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