Google is facing a new lawsuit alleging antitrust law violations over its search engine dominance. The allegations suggest that Google pays billions of dollars to smartphone makers such as Apple, LG, Motorola, and Samsung, as well as carriers like Verizon and browsers like Mozilla, to be the default search engine for their customers. The case was filed by the US Justice Department in the final days of the Trump administration.
Google intends to argue that the allegations are flawed and that the lawsuit should be dismissed. The company maintains that the payments are legal revenue-sharing deals, rather than efforts to exclude rivals. The case will be heard by Judge Amit Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, with the trial scheduled for September.
This is one of several costly lawsuits that Google is currently facing from state and federal governments. The 2020 lawsuit by the Justice Department accused Google of using its market power to hobble rivals, which has since been followed by other antitrust complaints. The Justice Department filed a second lawsuit in January 2021, accusing Google of abusing its dominance in the digital advertising business. In 2020, a group of states led by Texas also sued Google on ad tech.
States led by Utah filed a lawsuit in 2021 claiming that Google broke antitrust law in handling its play store. Google was founded in 1998, following an anti-competitive practices lawsuit against Microsoft. The company’s latest legal challenge underscores the growing concern among regulators over the power of Big Tech companies, and the scrutiny they face over their business practices.
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