Google Gets Relief as Judge Dismisses a Few Antitrust Allegations
The now limited case will focus primarily on deals Google has made with companies to set its search engine as default.
- Alphabet Inc.’s Google will face a limited anti-trust lawsuit after some of the allegations by the state’s attorney general were dismissed by a federal judge.
- District judge Amit Mehta stated that the attorney general could not show that search results by Google were harming rivals such as Expedia or Yelp.
The anti-trust case of the U.S. government against Google was reduced significantly after a district court judge threw out some claims brought forth by the Department of Justice that alleged harmful effects of Google Search against competing services.
This lawsuit was first brought by the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) and 38 state attorneys general in 2020. While the states and DOJ filed separate cases initially, they have largely been consolidated into one. The suit accuses Google of being anti-competitive in multiple areas, including the design of its search engine against competitors such as Expedia, Tripadvisor, and Yelp.
Judge Amit Mehta dismissed some claims stating that the government did not rely on evidence but on the opinion and speculation of their experts. The government also abandoned some allegations about Google’s deals with Android phone makers and developers.
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Concerns Remain Over Google Search Engine as Default on Mobile Browsers
While the suit has been reduced, it is by no means over. Some of the principal arguments against Google remain standing, which include the allegation that Google violated anti-trust policies by making its own search engine the default on mobile browsers.
The trial is set to begin on the 12th of September. This is not the first time Google has been in trouble with the DOJ. It is currently facing another suit over anti-competitive practices in terms of online advertising. Efforts by regulators to rein in the tech giants have been fraught with difficulty. In 2023 alone, federal judges have declined requests by the FTC to stop deals that allowed Meta to buy a VR startup and made it easier for Microsoft to acquire game publisher Activision Blizzard.
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Image source: Shutterstock
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