Google hits back at ‘deeply flawed’ US Justice Department lawsuit
Google has hit back at a major antitrust lawsuit filed by the US Justice Department, branding it “deeply flawed” and warning that consumers would be negatively affected if the government wins its case.
US officials today filed a lawsuit against the tech giant accusing it of breaking the law by using its market power to fend off rivals.
The lawsuit alleges that Google unlawfully shuts out rivals in its search and advertising businesses, using money generated from ads to pay mobile companies and browsers to keep Google as their default search engine.
Justice officials also took aim at the way Google preloads its search app on mobile phones running its own Android operating system.
These moves mean Google holds a dominant position on devices in the US, granting rivals little opportunity to compete, the lawsuit claims.
But in a blog post published this afternoon, Google senior vice president of global affairs Kent Walker blasted the “dubious antitrust arguments”.
“People use Google because they choose to, not because they’re forced to, or because they can’t find alternatives,” he wrote.
“This lawsuit would do nothing to help consumers. To the contrary, it would artificially prop up lower-quality search alternatives, raise phone prices, and make it harder for people to get the search services they want to use.”
Google argued that its agreements with other tech firms, which sees it share ad revenues with distributors such as Apple in exchange for prominence, helps to subsidise the cost of phones.
Walker also said the lawsuit underestimated how tech savvy American consumers were, arguing that switching to different search engines on computers and mobile devices was “trivially easy”.
“American antitrust law is designed to promote innovation and help consumers, not tilt the playing field in favor of particular competitors or make it harder for people to get the services they want,” he added.
The legal battle comes more than a year after the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission opened antitrust investigations into Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon.
But the decision to file the lawsuit just days before the US presidential election will fuel speculation of political motives, as Donald Trump has vowed to hold tech giants to account.
If successful, the legal challenge could lead to a break-up of Google’s business.
It follows a damning report from the US House antitrust committee, published last week, which accused Google and its fellow tech giants of abusing their market power and called for a potential break-up.
The lawsuit is the most aggressive challenge to a Silicon Valley tech giant in more than two decades.
In 1998 – the same year Google was founded – the Justice Department filed antitrust charges against Microsoft for unlawful monopolisation.
The search engine giant could also be facing further further lawsuits as probes by US state attorneys general into Google’s broader business are already underway.