Bipartisan Lawsuit Against Google Marks Beginning of New Era in Anti-Monopoly Enforcement and a New Beginning for the Digital Economy
WASHINGTON – A coalition of 38 state attorneys general filed an antitrust lawsuit today against Alphabet Inc.’s Google for illegally monopolizing the markets for general search services, general search advertising, and general search text advertising.
In response, Sally Hubbard, director of enforcement strategy at Open Markets Institute, issued the following statement:
“Today's lawsuit by state attorneys general presents a wide range of anti-competitive tactics that Google has employed to grow and maintain its monopoly power in search and search advertising. Google has long used its monopoly power in general search to make its specialized search competitors effectively disappear. Google, like so many other platform monopolists, is playing the game and controlling it, too. Google’s illegal conduct, which clearly violates Section 2 of the Sherman Act, has occurred for more than a decade, and the states’ case — while long overdue — is still critically important today.
“Google must be structurally separated to remove its conflicts of interest. The European Commission’s attempt to remedy Google’s anti-competitive conduct with behavioral conditions in the Google comparison shopping case — a case about specialized search — has largely failed. Google has demonstrated that it can simply obtain the same monopolizing ends through different means. As the states’ case proceeds, Congress should pass legislation to structurally separate digital platforms, akin to the Glass-Steagall Act, as called for by Chairman David Cicilline’s House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust’s Big Tech report.”
In response, Barry Lynn, executive director of the Open Markets Institute, issued the following response:
“In these dark days, Americans should take heart that Democrats and Republicans from across the nation joined together to address the power, actions, and structure of Google, perhaps the most dangerous monopolist in U.S. history. The three lawsuits against Google — one by the Justice Department and two joined by almost every U.S. state — are only the beginning. Americans must still decide which political, social, and economic ends we want the internet to serve and establish a principles-based framework to achieve them. But these actions — along with twin lawsuits announced last week against Facebook — provide us with a once-in-a-century opportunity to envision a more just, prosperous, and safe society. The Open Markets team looks forward to the next stage in this great political and economic challenge.”
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