Abuse of dominant position: American justice opens proceedings against Google (Clubic.com)

Judicial pressure against the Mountain View firm crossed a new threshold on Tuesday, with the complaint filed by the government and eleven US attorneys general.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the United States Department of Justice and the attorneys general of eleven federated states officially filed a complaint against Google on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, with the aim of putting an end to anti-competitive and anti-monopoly practices on different online search and advertising markets.

The giant crushed the competition on search engines and online advertising

Accused of violating antitrust laws and maintaining illegal monopolies through its main activities, Google must now face a lawsuit filed by American justice in a court in the District of Columbia, in what is undoubtedly the most important antitrust proceeding ever. in the United States of the millennium.

"Today, millions of Americans depend on the Internet and online platforms for their daily lives. Competition in this industry is vitally important, which is why today's lawsuit against Google for violating antitrust laws is a monumental case for both the Justice Department and the American people."said Attorney General William Barr.

Google, 137 billion euros in turnover in 2019, is criticized for having, over the years, put in place a whole series of barriers and obstacles to competition, such as imposing its search engine as the default engine on billions of mobile devices and computers, while prohibiting the pre-installation of competing tools.

Google in the footsteps of AT&T and Microsoft?

The Department of Justice considers that by having limited the web search to Google only or almost, the American giant has reduced the quality of the search (this includes confidentiality, data protection and the use of personal data of consumers) and reduces choice in research, while preventing innovation. On the publication market, Google has the ability to charge advertisers higher amounts than those which should theoretically be charged, for the good and simple reason that there too, the company has closed the market to competition.

While a recent parliamentary report of the committee of the House of Representatives of the American Congress recommends dismantling GAFA, the Mountain View firm reacted by considering that the complaint contains "serious shortcomings" and that in any case, users use Google and its services "because they choose to do so, not because they are forced to or because they cannot find alternatives".

What is happening to Google is reminiscent of the case that the ministry had already raised against Microsoft in 1998 with the case of non-removable software and the closing of distribution channels to competitors, or that presented against the operator AT&T in 1974, which had ended the company's telephone monopoly.