Delaware joins states filing antitrust suit against search & advertising behemoth Google

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Seattle, USA - Feb 4, 2020: A one way street sign by the new Google building in the south lake union area late in the day. (Seattle, USA - Feb 4, 2020: A one way street sign by the new Google building in the south lake union area late in the day., ASC
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 Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings confirmed that  Delaware and other states are suing search giant Google LLC for anticompetitive conduct in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman (antitrust)  Act.

The suit comes one week after Delaware announced a lawsuit against Facebook Inc. for violations of the Sherman Act and Clayton Act. 

A group of Republican Attorneys General filed a suit against Google this week over its advertising practices.

 A one-way street sign by the new Google building in Seattle.

CNBC reported that more than three-dozen attorneys general from both political parties joined in the latest lawsuit.

“Google became a household name through the virtually unabated domination of the search market,” said Jennings. “It maintains that dominance illegally – including through a longstanding pattern of exclusionary contracts that starve out potential competitors – and at the expense of consumers’ privacy. America’s antitrust laws have stood the test of time because sprawling monopolies threaten consumer choice, stifle open markets, and erode accountability for bad corporate behavior. We have a duty to intervene against this kind of abuse on behalf of our constituents and consumers everywhere. That’s exactly what we’re doing today.”

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According to Jennings, the suit alleges that Google illegally maintains its monopoly power over general search engines and related advertising markets through anticompetitive conduct and exclusionary contracts. That conduct has deprived consumers of competition that could lead to greater choice, innovation, and better privacy protections. Furthermore, Google has exploited its market position to accumulate and leverage data to the detriment of consumers. 

Google has continued to deny the allegations.

Traditional and digital media outlets have long contended that the company has “scraped” content with little or no compensation for reporters’ and editors’ work.

At the same time, media outlets rely on Google’s search engine in research and making their work visible to audiences. Google does offer an advertising program known as Adsense, that compensates media outlets for online ad placement.

The complaint is consistent with a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on October 20, which alleged that Google improperly maintains its monopoly power in general search and search advertising through the use of exclusionary agreements.

The latest action adds additional allegations and describes Google’s monopoly maintenance scheme as a multi-part effort.

The state complaint also goes further than the U.S. DOJ’s in explaining how Google’s acquisition and command of data – obtained in increasing part because of consumers’ lack of choice – has fortified its monopoly.  

Like Facebook, Google has acquired potential competitors, like Instagram and YouTube, moves that, according to critics, lessened competition and created an unfair advantage, given both companies’ deep pockets.

The states ask the court to halt what is viewed as  Google’s illegal conduct and restore a competitive marketplace. The states also seek to unwind any advantages that Google gained due to its anticompetitive conduct, including the divestiture of assets as appropriate, and any additional relief it deems appropriate, a release from Jennings’ office stated.

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