gavel.
California will join the US government and 11 other
states in bringing lawsuits against Google for abusing its market
dominance, the state’s top prosecutor said
Friday.
“Google’s market dominance leaves consumers and small businesses
with little choice when it comes to internet search engines,”
Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement.
“By using exclusionary agreements to dominate the market, Google
has stifled competition and rigged the advertising market.”
The US Justice Department and 11 states in October brought a
civil case against Google for pursuing an illegal monopoly in its
search functions and in its advertising research services.
Google, founded in 1998 and headquartered in California, has
often been accused of abusing its power to exclude competitors.
It is the default search engine on many devices, and its Chrome
web browser and mobile operating system Android dominate the
market.
The US Justice Department also accuses it of forcing consumers
and advertisers to use its services on Android devices on apps that
cannot be deleted, such as Google Maps.
On Wednesday the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and prosecutors
representing 48 states and territories also announced they had
filed a complaint against Facebook for abusing its market
dominance.
-AFP