Google Faces Third Antitrust Lawsuit in Two Months from 38 US States

▲Phil Weiser, Attorney General of Colorado [Image source=AP News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] The world's largest search engine, Google, has been sued for antitrust violations by 38 U.S. states. This is the third lawsuit in two months.

According to CNBC on the 17th (local time), 38 U.S. states and territories, including New York and Colorado, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that Google used its monopoly position in the online search market to harm consumers and advertisers.

Phil Weiser, Attorney General of Colorado, stated at a press conference, "Consumers were deprived of the benefits of competition such as higher quality services and better privacy protection, and advertisers suffered from lower quality and higher prices," adding, "These costs were ultimately passed on to consumers."

The lawsuit, joined by state governments from both the Republican and Democratic parties, contains similar allegations to the antitrust lawsuit filed last October by the federal Department of Justice and 11 Republican state attorneys general. They have requested the court to consolidate the DOJ lawsuit with this one.

Attorney General Weiser claimed, "Google enjoyed a monopoly position in most search distribution through restrictive contracts, blocking advertisers' ability to interoperate between Google's advertising tools and competitors' search ads," and "discriminated on search result pages to prevent consumers from seeing content search results in certain areas."

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

They particularly pointed out that Google strengthened its monopoly by making device manufacturers set its search engine as the default through contracts. According to the complaint, Google is installed as the default on 80% of web browsers, artificially blocking competitors.

The complaint also cited Google's contracts with telecom companies such as AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile to pre-install its mobile apps as examples of illegal monopolistic practices.

Attorney General Weiser criticized, "Google's anti-competitive behavior reinforced its monopoly in general search, excluded competitors, deprived consumers of the benefits of competition, and hindered innovation and expansion."

Meanwhile, the day before, 10 states with Republican governors, including Texas, filed an antitrust lawsuit alleging that Google held an illegal monopoly in the digital advertising market.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.