The U.S. Justice Department today filed an antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet Inc’s Google on Tuesday for allegedly breaking the law in using its market power to fend off rivals. The DOJ’s antitrust division announced Tuesday that it is suing Alphabet Inc. over antitrust law violations surrounding its search engine, saying the company has become “the monopoly gatekeeper of the internet.”
Tae Kim for Bloomberg Opinion:
The landmark case alleges Google abused its market-dominant position and stifled competitors, specifically citing its exclusionary distribution agreements with Apple Inc. and other technology companies that made its search engine the default option on mobile devices and browsers… Eleven Republican state attorneys general signed on to the case.
For months now, we’ve known that the DOJ has been preparing an antitrust case against Google. What we didn’t know was how far-reaching it would be. There was speculation that regulators would rush out a half-baked complaint to meet a political deadline. It turns out, the government is pursuing the tech giant full-on by targeting the company’s crown-jewel Google search engine. That’s good, because the situation demands it.
Notably, no Democratic state attorneys generals have signed on to this DOJ lawsuit, but that’s likely because they want to file a broader complaint later. The DOJ signaled as much on a press call Tuesday, adding that the attorneys’ hesitation to join the suit wasn’t for lack of support of the arguments. Unlike the large divergence between Republicans and Democrats on social media regulation, the two parties’ positions on Google’s overreach and the need for antitrust remedies aren’t far apart.
Where do things go from here? I expect a growing bipartisan consensus to form against Google…
MacDailyNews Take: This will take years (and should have begun years ago), but, hopefully, this is finally the beginning of a road that will lead to effective restraints on Google’s anticompetitive monopoly abuses!
Long overdue but it’s not too late.
“Eleven Republican state attorneys general signed on to the case.” let’s not forget ZERO Democrat state attorneys general signed on to the case.
Democrats are only interested in one goal, getting elected (power). 98% of Silicon Valley donations are going to the Democrats so the party of Biden is falling inline. Hog tied no surprise they are incapable of doing the RIGHT THING.
But don’t worry good citizens— the party of adults will get it done…
No Democrats? Gee, I wonder why?
Google’s Eric Schmidt wore staff badge at Hillary Clinton’s ‘victory’ party – November 16, 2016
Republicans are only going after Google because of what they see as bias against Conservatives not because of their obvious monopoly and anticompetitive business practices. So Republicans are not doing this for the good of consumers so stop the bullshit of bringing Hilary Clinton into this.
Do you people really want Bill Barr, and therefore Donald Trump, to assert control over the search engines that make using the Internet possible? That is almost the definition of replacing free access to information with Big Brother.
This isn’t about antitrust, or the suit would be asserting the broad claims that concern the state AGs. By restricting it to Google Search, it is a blatant effort to impose ideological Goodthink on those who might not favor the Trump Party Line. Government regulation of content, including search results, is exactly what the First Amendment was enacted to prohibit.
Elections have consequences.
The election is 2 weeks away.
This has been discussed by BOTH parties tenuously in unison and agreement for years regarding the monopoly of Google search picking favorites for profits that does not stop at politics.
“Republicans are only going after Google because of what they see as bias against Conservatives not because of their obvious monopoly and anticompetitive business practices.”
YES & NO. “anticompetitive business practices” FIRST and foremost and blatant “bias” SECOND exclusive against Republicans.
Google BIAS is undeniable and Democrats are backing off their previous Congressional pressure. Watch the Congressional hearings one scheduled on Thursday and I predict Democrats will pull a 180.
They don’t want to rock the boat with their biggest donors right before the election when Democrat party is the beneficiary of Google blatant BIAS dirty work. Democrats today want to win so badly by hook or crook, whatever, abandoning the high GENUINE idealism standards JFK espoused and we have not seen since.
Google has been caught multiple times for years hiding favorable Republican or Trump news over negative news and that extends to businesses they favor regarding AD dollars.
“So Republicans are not doing this for the good of consumers”
Wrong! If you believe that nothing I write will convince you otherwise, fine.
The biggest difference between the two parties is Democrats are for themselves and Republicans are the party of the people and greater good for ALL Americans…
BUSTED!
Case closed…
Busted? Is it a crime to be a Democrat already? I wasn’t expecting that until his second or third term.
Where is your concern for the Republican Party under Mainstream Media, Democrat attack and censorship by Google, Twitter, Facebook — the party you claim to belong to?…🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
I find it hard to believe that the companies that entered those ‘default’ position agreements with Google will go scot-free after this. “Takes two to tango” after all.
They are the victims.
They are partners. The users/clients are the victims. Google didn’t force an agreement into existence. Moe likely they thought users would choose Google anyway so why not get some money for it.
I remember the words my Grandfather told me in the 80’s when I asked him the quest, who are you voting for? He replied it is none of your business! Politics causes rifts in friendships and work relationships. Who you vote for is your business, I don’t want to hear it. I have kept that in mind over the years. To many people want you have their same opinion. If you don’t they believe they can yell at you and make you change your mind. Opinions are like an anus, we all have them. You just don’t show yours to everyone else.