Between the United States and Google, the legal fight is launched

The United States against Google: the legal fight is launched.

The US Department of Justice attacks the internet giant for abuse of dominance.

It's done, the complaint was filed in federal court by the US state in Washington.

After a year of investigation, Google is being sued for its anti-competitive practices and its desire to secure a monopoly position.

In its harsh complaint, the Justice Department accuses Google of having implemented a series of illegal arrangements to kill its competitors.

He accuses him in particular of paying billions of dollars, yes, billions, to smartphone makers to make Google appear as the default search engine on these phones.

Another accusation, among a long list: on devices running Android, the operating system developed by Google, the search engine is preinstalled and cannot be removed.

Which, we will agree, leaves little or no room for competition.

After Microsoft 20 years ago, Google

This complaint against Google resembles the crusade that the American state carried out against Microsoft twenty years ago.

It is important to remember this because at the time, Microsoft had used exactly the same methods to impose its Internet Explorer browser on the whole world.

Justice, after a long procedure, had forced him to make room for his competitors.

And that's how competing browsers like Firefox or Chrome, developed by a young competitor named Google, had emerged.

Rebelote therefore and this time, given the domination acquired by Google, the procedure could go, at worst, to the dismantling of the American giant.

Even if the most likely scenario is rather that justice forces it to fundamentally review some of its practices.

In 2002, after a first judgment ordering the dismantling of Microsoft, the computer giant had reached an amicable agreement with the American state to make room for competition and precisely avoid being dismantled.

Google also remains calm in the face of this legal offensive.

Google shares rise just over 1%

Google stock rose just over 1%.

Google is calm first of all because it has 120 billion dollars in cash and an army of the best lawyers to defend itself.

And then because its services, financed by advertising, are offered free of charge to businesses and individuals.

"People use Google because they choose to do so," defends the Mountain View giant.

It is a form of "voluntary servitude", to use the word of La Boétie, which has not aged since the 16th century.

And Google hopes to demonstrate that if it occupies a dominant position, it is because users want it.