After more than a year of investigation ... the US Department of Justice files a monopoly lawsuit against Google

After investigating Google for more than a year, the US Department of Justice on Tuesday finally issued an antitrust lawsuit against the search giant, alleging that Google “illegally maintains monopolies in the markets for public search services, search ads, and text search ads. Public in the United States of America. "

The lawsuit cites Part Two of the Sherman Act, which deals specifically with monopolies, and seeks to "restrict" Google, and search for compensation for the effects of its behavior so far.

This could come in the form of fines, divestment, change in business practices, or all of the above.

In addition to the Justice Department, 11 states signed the 64-page lawsuit, all with Republican prosecutors (Texas, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, and South Carolina).

This case is the most aggressive measure taken by the US government in decades against any of the technology companies that now support a large part of the US economy, according to the "TechCrunch" website that reported the news.

The last company to receive this level of scrutiny was Microsoft, which launched an “investigation” in 1992, then a case in 1997, which finally went into effect as a “settlement” in 2001. Some argue that the government action against the software giant He reshaped the tech industry, paved the way for Google and its peers to thrive, and now it looks like it's Google's turn to sit in the monopoly hot seat.

The case against Google may open the door to similar cases against other tech giants Apple, Facebook and Amazon (social networking sites)

Monopolistic powers

TechCrunch quotes Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen as saying in his statement, “Google is the gateway to the Internet and giant search ads, and it has achieved some success in its early years and no one denies this. But as the antitrust complaint filed today makes clear, it has kept "Its monopoly power through exclusionary practices that harm competition, so the Ministry of Justice decided that the antitrust response is necessary to benefit consumers."

"If the government does not implement antitrust laws to enable competition, we may lose the next wave of innovation, and if that happens, Americans may not be able to see the next Google," he added, stressing that the Justice Department plans to continue its review of anti-competitive practices through the leading internet platforms in market.

Google's dominant position in search and advertising on the search network is the foundation of the company's strength in mass advertising, data mining, video distribution, and information services.

The case will be Google's first major legal challenge from US regulators despite years of investigations into the company's practices.

It is reported that Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has the leadership in the fields of search and video.

The company dominates the search market, where nearly 90% of all Internet searches in the world are conducted through Google, and nearly 3 quarters of American adults resort to YouTube for video, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. (The Wall Street Journal).

In its first comment on the Ministry of Justice’s case, Google said in a brief statement that “the lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Justice today is deeply flawed,” adding that people are using Google because they chose to do so, and not because they are forced to do so or because they cannot find alternatives.

Today's lawsuit by the Department of Justice is deeply flawed.

People use Google because they choose to - not because they're forced to or because they can't find alternatives.

We will have a full statement this morning.

- Google Public Policy (@googlepubpolicy) October 20, 2020

It is reported that Google is not the only company that has caught the attention of Washington.

And earlier in October, the Judiciary Committee of the US House of Representatives released a more than 400-page report explaining how the tech giants "Apple", "Amazon", "Alphabet" and " Facebook "(Facebook) is abusing their power, and the committee has proposed some solutions on how to fix the situation, including dismantling some of the acquisitions carried out by those companies.