An antitrust suit against Google comes from the Justice Department. The allegations against Google are that they have resorted to anticompetitive behavior to ensure market monopoly. Their only aim is to remain the leaders in search advertising and search. These two are like the cornerstones of the internet giant.
The antitrust suit against Google was long-awaited since the filing was done in a federal court of Washington, D.C. The case is one of the country’s most aggressive legal challenges, considering the past 20 years. The agenda is the dominance of an organization in the IT sector using anticompetitive means. Prosecutors believe that a case of such stature is capable of shaking up the entire Silicon Valley along with the industries around.
Once upon a time, Google was the public’s favorite. However, the tech giant is facing severe scrutiny since the beginning of the last decade. While Google knows how to grab a massive part of the business these years gradually, it has always avoided a proper showdown with the government.
Google, an Alphabet Inc. unit, is capable of maintaining its position as an internet gatekeeper. However, to achieve that position, they are continually using the medium of an unlawful web of interlocking and exclusionary business agreements.
As a result, they are shutting out other competitors. Google is now facing allegations of collecting a large sum of money from online advertisements on its home platform. Further, they use the money to bribe phone manufacturers, browsers, and carriers. All of the efforts are to maintain themselves as the default, preset search engine universally.
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The antitrust suit against Google speaks of several unlawful practices
The lawsuit against Google consists of information regarding the organization’s arrangements regarding the preloading of the search engine. Moreover, you will never be able to delete the search application from mobile phones running on the Android OS. Furthermore, the government alleges that Google is responsible for unlawfully prohibiting the search application of the competitors. As a result, no one other than Google can preload apps on mobile phones. Besides, none of the competitors can be a part of revenue-sharing deals with mobile companies apart from Google.
According to the antitrust suit against Google, the company controls or owns over 80% of the total U.S. search queries through distribution channels. Therefore, the competitors are left with an almost negligible amount of search queries to stay alive in the competition. Besides, users are left with practically no choice other than choosing Google for its requirements. Moreover, this is like murdering further innovation in the big tech industry. The lawsuit also claims that due to Google’s tricky business tactics, advertisers do not get a competitive pricing scenario.
Google stands strong amidst all allegations by critics.
Several media houses are seeking comments from Google. However, the tech giant refuses to say anything regarding the lawsuit. Recently, a source from the company justifies their competitive edge. He says that they are leading the market over the years because they offer products that millions of people choose to use daily. After the revelation of the pending lawsuit against the company, the opening of their latest shares was just 1% over the broader market.
The Californian Organization, The Mountain View, is sitting on a cash hoard worth $120 billion. Therefore, it surely does not mind continuing a legal fight. The company’s argument states that they are facing tremendous competition in every business field. However, their only aim is to reach out to large and small businesses worldwide for genuine assistance.
For a long time, Google’s trump card allows users to avail of all of their services at minimum to zero cost. Therefore, the same argument rules out claims of the critics who speak of price harms for users who are availing of Google’s products and services.
The lawsuit may not settle for years to come.
The claim follows a Justice Department examination that has extended over a year. Moreover, it presently comes amid a more extensive assessment of the small bunch of innovation organizations that assume an outsize function in the U.S. economy. Besides, the present situation is involving the everyday lives of most Americans as well.
A misfortune for Google could mean court-requested changes to how it works portions of its business, conceivably making new openings for rival organizations. The Justice Department’s claim didn’t indicate specific cures; that generally consider in the later part of a situation. One Justice Department official said nothing is off the table, including potentially looking for necessary changes to Google’s business.
A triumph for Google could bargain an enormous hit to Washington’s general examination of large tech organizations, conceivably tottering different assessments and cherishing Google’s plan of action after administrators and others tested its market power.
Such a result, however, might spike Congress to make an administrative move against the organization. The antitrust suit against Google may go on for several years now. Moreover, managing and supervising the same will fall on whoever wins the upcoming U.S. Presidential elections. It is to take place on November 3, 2020.
Google is taking the allegations as new challenges they must conquer
The lawsuit challenges denote a unique chapter in the tech giant’s history that is functioning since 1998. Their first office was a garage in the suburban area of San Francisco. It was the same year during which Microsoft was facing similar antitrust allegations. It was another of the blockbuster Government cases that reveal the illegal monopolization of Microsoft during that time. The Microsoft case ended in a mutual settlement and is the last similar example before the present lawsuit against Google.
The aim of Google during the time of its establishment was amorphous and broad. They wanted to bring together information from across the world. However, over the past decade, they have become more of a conglomerate, offering more than just information. Google’s flagship search engine manages over 90% of the total search requests from across the world.
This results in around a few billions of questions in a single day. As a result, Google has also become the largest platform for digital advertising. The YouTube unit of Google is, by far, the largest video platform globally. More than ¾ of the adult population of the U.S use YouTube presently.
Over the last few years, we have seen that Google keeps calm regarding the several controversies surrounding the organization. Critics keep claiming negative statements regarding privacy policies and the anticompetitive tactics of Google. However, there has never been a significant downfall in the company’s growth rate, despite all the humiliation and criticism.
The last time Google came in front of allegations was in 2012 when it was already leading the list of public trading organizations in the U.S. Since that time till today, the market value of Google has only been increasing to the present amount of $1 trillion.
Who is in charge of the legal proceedings of the company now?
Google is continuing the process of legal showdown under its new generation of leadership. Co-founders and billionaires Sergey Brin and Larry Page gave up their positions as part of the management in 2019. Presently, Sundar Pichai is the one who is handling the whole administration. He is a soft-spoken engineer who was born in India.
He was also the one who took forward antitrust issues against Microsoft to the court earlier in 2020. However, the former leaders’ Brin and Page are still part of the board. Moreover, they also have considerable power to decide for Alphabet Inc. during different situations. Along with them, former CEO Eric Schmidt also enjoys significant voting power on the company’s board.
The latest development regarding the antitrust suit against Google is witnessing 11 new state attorneys general. Moreover, they are all Republicans and will be part of the Justice Department from now on. There is a possibility of more attorneys to join the bench later. There is news that the Justice Department is also investigating Google’s ad-tech policies for further clarity of the situation.
