By Chathushka Perera
New York, USA (CWBN)_ A 57-page federal, anti-trust law suit has been filed by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) against Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., for maintaining a monopoly on internet search and search advertising, by excluding its competitors. This would be the heaviest case dropped on a tech company in the last 20 years.
The DoJ alleged that Google has been exclusionary and interlocking deals worth billions of dollars with mobile phone manufacturers, carries and browsers, including Safari, which was developed by Apple Inc., to accent Google as its default search provider. According to the DoJ 80% of US searches are channelled through Google.
However, according to many reports, the case was filed on Attorney General William Barr’s insistence even though some lawyers have requested additional time and raised issues of political agendas in play.
Google Chief Legal Officer, Kent Walker, stated that “People use Google because they choose to, not because they are forced to or because they can’t find alternatives. Like countless other business, we pay to promote our services, just like a cereal brand might pay a supermarket to stock its products at the end of the row or on a self at eye level.”
Moreover, Kent stated that consumers may have to expect an increase in Google’s software and hardware, should they win the case against them. It would also incapacitate other investigations carried out against tech companies. Should Google lose the case, it would likely be forced to make changes to its operability, meaning that competition would rise.
Although the case would take several years to reach a conclusion, Alphabet shares showed a positive trend at 1.4%.
The developments follow a series of Congressional Anti-Trust Hearings that took place in July where CEOs from Facebook Inc., Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. were required to publicly testify. Meanwhile, the European Union has also taken action against Google, levying a fine of 9 billion USD, under the same allegations.
