Google faces third antitrust lawsuit
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WASHINGTON • Alphabet Inc's Google, already facing lawsuits by the US Justice Department and various state attorneys-general led by Texas, was expected to be sued for anti-competitive behaviour yesterday by another group of attorneys-general, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Like the Justice Department complaint brought in October, this group of at least 36 state and territory attorneys-general, which is bipartisan, will accuse Google of violating antitrust law to maintain its dominance of online search.
The new lawsuit will allege that Google favoured its own products rather than presenting a neutral search result, disadvantaging rivals to such Google subsidiaries as YouTube, said the sources.
They added that the complaint is expected to touch on how Google is using anti-competitive conduct to grow its market power in emerging product areas, such as home smart speakers as well as software for cars and TVs.
The Texas suit, which was filed on Wednesday and joined by nine other states, focuses on Google's online advertising technology. It says Google and Facebook used a series of deals to illegally consolidate their market power.
Google and Facebook compete heavily in Internet ad sales, together capturing more than half of the global market. The two players agreed in a publicised deal in 2018 to start giving Facebook's advertiser clients the option to place ads within Google's network of publishing partners, the suit alleges.
For example, a sneaker blog that uses software from Google to sell ads could end up generating revenue from a footwear retailer that bought ads on Facebook.
But what Google did not announce publicly is that it gave Facebook preferential treatment, according to the complaint.
If successful, the series of actions could result in Google paying fines, dropping out of businesses or restructuring its longstanding deals with partners.
REUTERS
