Today, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google. The suit focuses on how Google has monopolized the search engine market as well as the market for general search advertising. The suit comes after our recent letters urging the Justice Department to review Google’s conduct for anticompetitive behavior in the search and advertising technology markets.
The following can be attributed to Charlotte Slaiman, Competition Policy Director at Public Knowledge:
“This DOJ complaint is an important first step towards people-centered innovation in search engines. For too long, search has been dominated by one firm, Google, in a way that has made it too difficult for new competitors offering better products and services to compete fairly in the search market. As a result, I believe we have missed out on innovations and product improvements in this incredibly important industry.
“The complaint lays out a strong case that Google has used a series of exclusive agreements and leveraged its position in the related markets of mobile phone operating systems and web browsers to build and maintain a monopoly in search and search advertising. It’s also setting up the ability to continue this strategy as technology changes. We are also pleased to see that a bipartisan group of state attorneys general are working expeditiously to augment what has been filed today.
“This begins a new era of public accountability for dominant tech platforms. It is now a matter of when, not if, we develop meaningful oversight of harms to innovation, competition, and people. While we still look forward to seeing further investigation of Google’s conduct in the advertising technology industry, today marks the beginning of a very lengthy process to begin addressing harms caused by dominant digital platforms. We also need Congress to develop new laws and rules that can apply right away.”
You may view our recent letters urging the Justice Department to review Google’s conduct for anticompetitive behavior in the search and advertising technology markets for more information.
Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.