By Kaveesha Fernando
CALIFORNIA, USA (CWBN)_ More bad news for Google this week as ten US states filed a lawsuit against the company on Wednesday (December 16), claiming that Google violated antitrust law to improve its online advertising.
Filed in the Eastern District of Texas, the lawsuit is based on Google’s use of its monopolistic power to control pricing and engage in market collusions to rig auctions in a tremendous violation of justice, according to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Texas was joined by Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, South Dakota, North Dakota, Utah and Idaho in filing the lawsuit. They sought damages and “structural relief”, which experts believe means that they intend to compel the company to dispossess some of its assets.
Following news of the lawsuit, Google’s parent company Alphabet’s shares are reported to have fallen 0.5 per cent on Wednesday afternoon. Reports indicate that Google has dismissed the lawsuit as being meritless.
On the same day, Google employees who formed the company’s Ethical Artificial Intelligence (AI) research team have demanded that changes be made within the company following the controversial removal of respected AI scientist Timnit Gebru over a research paper which she co-authored.
The demands include the removal of one of Google’s Vice Presidents (Megan Kacholia) who manages the team, an apology from Google’s Head of AI Jeff Dean, an offer of a higher-level position for a Gebru, a public commitment to the integrity of Google research and assurance that employees who protested against Gebru’s removal are not harmed. They also demanded transparency with regards to Gebru’s departure.
