HARRISBURG – Attorney General Josh Shapiro has joined a bipartisan coalition of more than three dozen AGs who have filed an antitrust action against Google, claiming the Internet search company has an illegal monopoly over the online search market that hurts consumers and advertisers.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in conjunction with a motion to consolidate, seeking to combine the states’ case with another pending antitrust case brought against it, that one being from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The DOJ’s case argues Google “improperly maintains its monopoly power in general search and search advertising through the use of exclusionary agreements.”
Google has been hit with a flurry of antitrust litigation in recent weeks, all of which assert Google’s alleged anti-competitive conduct has harmed other companies, product innovation and consumers.
Here, the states allege that Google illegally maintains its monopoly power over general search engines and related advertising markets through a series of anti-competitive exclusionary contracts and conduct:
• Using exclusionary agreements and other practices to limit the ability of rival general search engines and potential rivals to reach consumers. This conduct cements Google as the go-to search engine on computers and mobile devices.
• Disadvantaging users of its search-advertising management tool, SA360, by promising that it would not favor Google search advertising over that of competing search engines such as Bing. Instead, Google continuously favors advertising on its own platform, inflating its profits to the detriment of advertisers and consumers.
• Discriminating against specialized search sites – such as those that provide travel, home repair, or entertainment services – by depriving them access to prime real estate because these competing sites threaten Google’s revenue and dominant position.
Furthermore, the attorneys general argue that “more competition in the general search engine market would benefit consumers…though improved privacy protections and more targeted results and opportunities for consumers”, while competitive general search engines also could “offer better quality advertising and lower prices to advertisers.”
The attorneys add Google also seeks to “deploy the same exclusionary contracting tactics to monopolize the emerging ways consumers access general search engines, such as through their home smart speakers, televisions or in their cars”, which they believe is tantamount to “depriving consumers of competitive choices and blocking innovation.”
“The states also go further than the U.S. DOJ in explaining how Google’s acquisition and command of vast amounts of data – obtained in increasing part because of consumers’ lack of choice – has fortified Google’s monopoly and created significant barriers for potential competitors and innovators,” Shapiro said.
As a result of these business practices, the AG’s say Google has deprived consumers of competition that could lead to greater choice, innovation and better privacy protections, all the while exploiting its market position to accumulate and leverage data to the detriment of consumers.
“Google is using its market power to ensure consumers and businesses rely on it, and prevent competitors from coming to the fore. Their anti-competitive practices have built a monopoly over search – a backbone of the Internet – that stifles innovation and economic growth, all while giving it unprecedented advertising profits and access to consumer information and the ability to obstruct the flow of data to their users,” Shapiro stated.
“For too long, regulators have not taken needed steps to protect a free, open, competitive marketplace online. Big Tech companies must meet the same standards of any other business in this country and play by the rules put in place to protect consumers.”
Google responded to the newest lawsuit with a blog post published on Thursday, authored by its Director of Economic Policy Adam Cohen, who claimed that to re-design the company’s search engine would do more harm than good for consumers.
“We know that scrutiny of big companies is important and we’re prepared to answer questions and work through the issues. But this lawsuit seeks to re-design search in ways that would deprive Americans of helpful information and hurt businesses’ ability to connect directly with customers. We look forward to making that case in court, while remaining focused on delivering a high-quality search experience for our users,” Cohen said.
Shapiro and the other attorneys general ask the Court to “halt Google’s illegal conduct and restore a competitive marketplace, unwind any advantages that Google gained as a result of its anti-competitive conduct, including divestiture of assets, and to provide any additional relief it determines appropriate, including reasonable fees and costs to the states.”
The states’ investigation was led by an executive committee made up of the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah.
The executive committee is joined by the attorneys general of Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming, the District of Columbia and the territories of Guam and Puerto Rico.
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com