US Justice Department files antitrust case against Google for position abuse

The suit is the first antitrust action against Alphabet's Google to result from investigations by the Justice Department, Congress and 50 states and territories. State attorneys general and federal officials have also been investigating Google’s behaviour in the market for online advertising. And now, a group of states is exploring a broader search case against Google.

The lawsuit marks the biggest antitrust case in a generation; comparable to the lawsuit against Microsoft Corp filed in 1998 and the 1974 case against AT&T which led to the breakup of the Bell System. The Justice Department lawsuit could lead to the break-up of the iconic company, again. Currently, the company has become synonymous with the internet. It has also assumed a central role in the day-to-day lives of billions of people around the globe.

What does the lawsuit say?

"Absent a court order, Google will continue executing its anti-competitive strategy; crippling the competitive process, reducing consumer choice, and stifling innovation," the lawsuit states. Attorney General Bill Barr said his investigators had found Google does not compete on the quality of its search results but instead bought its success through payments to mobile phone makers and others. "The end result is that no one can feasibly challenge Google's dominance in search and search advertising," Barr said.

The Justice Department didn’t lay out specific remedies. Although it has asked the court to order structural relief “as needed to remedy any anticompetitive harm.” That opens the door to possible fundamental changes such as a spinoff of the company’s Chrome browser.

Google called the lawsuit "deeply flawed". It also added that people use the search engine because they choose to; not because they're forced to or because they can't find alternatives.

Seven years ago, the FTC settled an antitrust probe into Google over alleged bias in its search function to favour its products, among other issues. The settlement came over the objections of some FTC staff attorneys. Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission began antitrust investigations into four big tech companies, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.

The 11 states which joined the lawsuit all have Republican attorneys general.