December 17
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, a bi-partisan coalition of more than 30 state attorneys general led by Colorado filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google. They argue that Google has willfully maintained, abused, and extended its monopoly power in general search advertising through anti-competitive distribution agreements, limiting product interoperability, illegal tying, discriminating against specialized search engines, and implementing other restrictions that drive queries to Google at the expense of search rivals.
The suit comes after Omidyar Network’s recent paper outlining a roadmap for an antitrust case against Google which stated that the company appears to have engaged in anti-competitive conduct, including shutting down potential competitors and insisting on exclusive contracts that require competitors to enter two markets simultaneously in order to compete.
The following statement can be attributed to David Dinielli, senior advisor at Omidyar Network:
“Google engaged in what is a classic tale of a likely monopolization strategy premised on denying scale to rivals. This brings back bad memories of the decades-old case against Microsoft. Google’s conduct has harmed competitors and potential competitors, advertisers, and consumers. Google search is no longer the index of the internet; it has become its aggressive gatekeeper and bully.
This suit, like others that federal and state authorities have recently brought against Google and Facebook, shows that public accountability for dominant tech platforms is a bi-partisan issue with broad support. Because antitrust cases take many years to conclude, and unregulated tech giants are a threat to public safety, personal data, and competitive markets, we urgently call on Congress and the incoming Biden administration to develop new laws and rules to rein in big tech.”
