US Government Files Antitrust Charges Against Google

A huge legal challenge to one of the nation’s largest tech
companies

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Tuesday sued Google
for antitrust violations, alleging that it abused its dominance in
online search and advertising to stifle competition and harm
consumers.

The lawsuit marks the government’s most significant act to
protect competition since its groundbreaking case against Microsoft
more than 20 years ago. It could be an opening salvo ahead of other
major government antitrust actions, given ongoing investigations of
major tech companies including Apple, Amazon and Facebook at both
the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission.

“Google is the gateway to the internet and a search advertising
behemoth,” U.S. Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen told reporters.
“It has maintained its monopoly power through exclusionary
practices that are harmful to competition.”

Antitrust cases in the technology industry have to move quickly,
he said. Otherwise “we could lose the next wave of innovation.”

Lawmakers and consumer advocates have long accused Google, whose
corporate parent Alphabet Inc. has a market value just over $1
trillion, of abusing its dominance in online search and advertising
to stifle competition and boost its profits. Critics contend that
multibillion-dollar fines and mandated changes in Google’s
practices imposed by European regulators in recent years weren’t
severe enough and that structural changes are needed for Google to
change its conduct.

The Justice Department isn’t seeking specific changes in
Google’s structure or other remedies at this point, but isn’t
ruling out seeking additional relief, officials said.

Google responded immediately via tweet: “Today’s lawsuit by the
Department of Justice is deeply flawed. People use Google because
they choose to — not because they’re forced to or because they
can’t find alternatives.”

The case was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. It
alleges that Google uses billions of dollars collected from
advertisers to pay phone manufacturers to ensure Google is the
default search engine on browsers. Eleven states, all with
Republican attorneys general, joined the federal government in the
lawsuit.

But several other states demurred. The attorneys general of New
York, Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Tennessee and Utah
released a statement Monday saying they have not concluded their
investigation into Google and would want to consolidate their case
with the DOJ’s if they decided to file. “It’s a bipartisan
statement,” said spokesman Fabien Levy of the New York State
attorney general’s office. “There’s things that still need to be
fleshed out, basically,”

President Donald Trump’s administration has long had Google in
its sights. One of Trump’s top economic advisers said two years ago
that the White House was considering whether Google searches should
be subject to government regulation. Trump has often criticized
Google, recycling unfounded claims by conservatives that the search
giant is biased against conservatives and suppresses their
viewpoints, interferes with U.S. elections and prefers working with
the Chinese military over the Pentagon.

Rosen told reporters that allegations of anti-conservative bias
are “a totally separate set of concerns” from the issue of
competition.

Google controls about 90% of global web searches. The company
has been bracing for the government’s action and is expected to
fiercely oppose any attempt to force it to spin off its services
into separate businesses.

The company, based in Mountain View, California, has long denied
the claims of unfair competition. Google argues that although its
businesses are large, they are useful and beneficial to consumers.
It maintains that its services face ample competition and have
unleashed innovations that help people manage their lives.

Most of Google’s services are offered for free in exchange for
personal information that helps it sell its ads. Google insists
that it holds no special power forcing people to use its free
services or preventing them from going elsewhere.

A recent report from a House Judiciary subcommittee, following a
year-long investigation into Big Tech’s market dominance, concluded
that Google has monopoly power in the market for search. It said
the company established its position in several markets through
acquisition, snapping up successful technologies that other
businesses had developed — buying an estimated 260 companies in 20
years.

The Democratic congressman who led that investigation called
Tuesday’s action “long overdue” but said it’s important for the
Justice Department to look beyond Google’s search business.

“It is critical that the Justice Department’s lawsuit focuses on
Google’s monopolization of search and search advertising, while
also targeting the anticompetitive business practices Google is
using to leverage this monopoly into other areas, such as maps,
browsers, video, and voice assistants,” Rep. David Cicilline of
Rhode Island said in a statement.

The DOJ “filed the strongest suit they have,” said Columbia Law
professor Tim Wu, who called it almost a carbon copy of the
government’s 1998 lawsuit against Microsoft. He said via email
that, for that reason, the DOJ has a decent chance of winning.
“However, the likely remedies — i.e., knock it off, no more making
Google the default — are not particularly likely to transform the
broader tech ecosystem.”

Other advocates, however, said the Justice Department’s timing —
it’s only two weeks to Election Day — smacked of politics. The
government’s “narrow focus and alienation of the bipartisan state
attorneys general is evidence of an unserious approach driven by
politics and is likely to result in nothing more than a
choreographed slap on the wrist for Google,” Alex Harman, a
competition policy advocate at Public Citizen, said in a
statement.

The argument for reining in Google has gathered force as the
company stretched far beyond its 1998 roots as a search engine
governed by the motto “Don’t Be Evil.” It’s since grown into a
diversified goliath with online tentacles that scoop up personal
data from billions of people via services ranging from search,
video and maps to smartphone software. That data helps feed the
advertising machine that has turned Google into a behemoth.

The company owns the leading web browser in Chrome, the world’s
largest smartphone operating system in Android, the top video site
in YouTube and the most popular digital mapping system. Some
critics have singled out YouTube and Android as among Google
businesses that should be considered for divestiture.

With only two weeks to Election Day, the Trump Justice
Department is taking bold legal action against Google on an issue
of rare bipartisan agreement. Republicans and Democrats have
accelerated their criticism of Big Tech in recent months, although
sometimes for different reasons. It’s unclear what the status of
the government’s suit against Google would be if a Joe Biden
administration were to take over next year.

The Justice Department sought support for its suit from states
across the country that share concerns about Google’s conduct. A
bipartisan coalition of 50 U.S. states and territories, led by
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, announced a year ago they were
investigating Google’s business practices, citing “potential
monopolistic behavior.”

Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, South Carolina and Texas joined the
Justice Department lawsuit.

AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke contributed to this report
from San Ramon, California.

A huge legal challenge to one of the nation’s largest tech
companies

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Tuesday sued Google
for antitrust violations, alleging that it abused its dominance in
online search and advertising to stifle competition and harm
consumers.

The lawsuit marks the government’s most significant act to
protect competition since its groundbreaking case against Microsoft
more than 20 years ago. It could be an opening salvo ahead of other
major government antitrust actions, given ongoing investigations of
major tech companies including Apple, Amazon and Facebook at both
the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission.

“Google is the gateway to the internet and a search advertising
behemoth,” U.S. Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen told reporters.
“It has maintained its monopoly power through exclusionary
practices that are harmful to competition.”

Antitrust cases in the technology industry have to move quickly,
he said. Otherwise “we could lose the next wave of innovation.”

Lawmakers and consumer advocates have long accused Google, whose
corporate parent Alphabet Inc. has a market value just over $1
trillion, of abusing its dominance in online search and advertising
to stifle competition and boost its profits. Critics contend that
multibillion-dollar fines and mandated changes in Google’s
practices imposed by European regulators in recent years weren’t
severe enough and that structural changes are needed for Google to
change its conduct.

The Justice Department isn’t seeking specific changes in
Google’s structure or other remedies at this point, but isn’t
ruling out seeking additional relief, officials said.

Google responded immediately via tweet: “Today’s lawsuit by the
Department of Justice is deeply flawed. People use Google because
they choose to — not because they’re forced to or because they
can’t find alternatives.”

The case was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. It
alleges that Google uses billions of dollars collected from
advertisers to pay phone manufacturers to ensure Google is the
default search engine on browsers. Eleven states, all with
Republican attorneys general, joined the federal government in the
lawsuit.

But several other states demurred. The attorneys general of New
York, Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Tennessee and Utah
released a statement Monday saying they have not concluded their
investigation into Google and would want to consolidate their case
with the DOJ’s if they decided to file. “It’s a bipartisan
statement,” said spokesman Fabien Levy of the New York State
attorney general’s office. “There’s things that still need to be
fleshed out, basically,”

President Donald Trump’s administration has long had Google in
its sights. One of Trump’s top economic advisers said two years ago
that the White House was considering whether Google searches should
be subject to government regulation. Trump has often criticized
Google, recycling unfounded claims by conservatives that the search
giant is biased against conservatives and suppresses their
viewpoints, interferes with U.S. elections and prefers working with
the Chinese military over the Pentagon.

Rosen told reporters that allegations of anti-conservative bias
are “a totally separate set of concerns” from the issue of
competition.

Google controls about 90% of global web searches. The company
has been bracing for the government’s action and is expected to
fiercely oppose any attempt to force it to spin off its services
into separate businesses.

The company, based in Mountain View, California, has long denied
the claims of unfair competition. Google argues that although its
businesses are large, they are useful and beneficial to consumers.
It maintains that its services face ample competition and have
unleashed innovations that help people manage their lives.

Most of Google’s services are offered for free in exchange for
personal information that helps it sell its ads. Google insists
that it holds no special power forcing people to use its free
services or preventing them from going elsewhere.

A recent report from a House Judiciary subcommittee, following a
year-long investigation into Big Tech’s market dominance, concluded
that Google has monopoly power in the market for search. It said
the company established its position in several markets through
acquisition, snapping up successful technologies that other
businesses had developed — buying an estimated 260 companies in 20
years.

The Democratic congressman who led that investigation called
Tuesday’s action “long overdue” but said it’s important for the
Justice Department to look beyond Google’s search business.

“It is critical that the Justice Department’s lawsuit focuses on
Google’s monopolization of search and search advertising, while
also targeting the anticompetitive business practices Google is
using to leverage this monopoly into other areas, such as maps,
browsers, video, and voice assistants,” Rep. David Cicilline of
Rhode Island said in a statement.

The DOJ “filed the strongest suit they have,” said Columbia Law
professor Tim Wu, who called it almost a carbon copy of the
government’s 1998 lawsuit against Microsoft. He said via email
that, for that reason, the DOJ has a decent chance of winning.
“However, the likely remedies — i.e., knock it off, no more making
Google the default — are not particularly likely to transform the
broader tech ecosystem.”

Other advocates, however, said the Justice Department’s timing —
it’s only two weeks to Election Day — smacked of politics. The
government’s “narrow focus and alienation of the bipartisan state
attorneys general is evidence of an unserious approach driven by
politics and is likely to result in nothing more than a
choreographed slap on the wrist for Google,” Alex Harman, a
competition policy advocate at Public Citizen, said in a
statement.

The argument for reining in Google has gathered force as the
company stretched far beyond its 1998 roots as a search engine
governed by the motto “Don’t Be Evil.” It’s since grown into a
diversified goliath with online tentacles that scoop up personal
data from billions of people via services ranging from search,
video and maps to smartphone software. That data helps feed the
advertising machine that has turned Google into a behemoth.

The company owns the leading web browser in Chrome, the world’s
largest smartphone operating system in Android, the top video site
in YouTube and the most popular digital mapping system. Some
critics have singled out YouTube and Android as among Google
businesses that should be considered for divestiture.

With only two weeks to Election Day, the Trump Justice
Department is taking bold legal action against Google on an issue
of rare bipartisan agreement. Republicans and Democrats have
accelerated their criticism of Big Tech in recent months, although
sometimes for different reasons. It’s unclear what the status of
the government’s suit against Google would be if a Joe Biden
administration were to take over next year.

The Justice Department sought support for its suit from states
across the country that share concerns about Google’s conduct. A
bipartisan coalition of 50 U.S. states and territories, led by
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, announced a year ago they were
investigating Google’s business practices, citing “potential
monopolistic behavior.”

Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, South Carolina and Texas joined the
Justice Department lawsuit.

AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke contributed to this report
from San Ramon, California.