Antitrust: California joins actions against Google
One of Google's locations in Menlo Park, California (illustrative image).
© Josh Edelson AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
California will join the US government and eleven other states in the country in their lawsuits against Google for abuse of dominance, said Friday, December 11, the attorney general of this state in a press release.
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"
Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced today that the California Department of Justice intends to join the United States Department of Justice in a landmark trial
," said the statement issued by the State Attorney General of California .
The ministry and eleven other states filed a civil lawsuit against Google in October 2020 for unlawful monopoly pursuit of its general search services and advertising search services.
The "
respect for private life
"
“
Google dominates the market and leaves little choice for consumers and small businesses when it comes to Internet search engines.
By using exclusionary agreements to dominate the market, Google has stifled competition and rigged the advertising market
, ”said Xavier Becerra, quoted in the press release.
"
This trial paves the way for innovation in search engines with greater respect for privacy and data protection
," he added.
California, where Google is headquartered, is the first Democratic state to join these lawsuits, with the attorneys general of the eleven states associated with the lawsuits (Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina , Texas and Montana) being all Republicans.
The company, founded in 1998, is criticized for having used and abused techniques to exclude its competitors, often being "
judge and jury
".
For example, it is the default search engine on many devices and browsers, including its own (Chrome), and on Android, its mobile operating system, which dominates the world.
Restriction of competition
The ministry accuses it of forcing consumers and advertisers to use its services on Android devices
via
apps that cannot be deleted (such as Google Maps), which considerably restricts competition.
On Wednesday, the US Competition Commission (FTC) and prosecutors representing 48 states and territories in the country also announced that they had filed a complaint against Facebook, also for abuse of dominance.
(
with AFP
)
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