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DESCRIPTION:Attorney General Curtis Hill announced today that he has joined
  the United States Department of Justice and 10 other state attorneys gener
 al in filing a civil antitrust lawsuit against Google. \n\nThe federal laws
 uit aims to prevent Google from unlawfully maintaining monopolies through a
 nticompetitive and exclusionary practices in the search and search advertis
 ing markets. As one of the wealthiest companies on the planet with a market
  value of $1 trillion\, Google is the monopoly gatekeeper to the internet f
 or billions of users and countless advertisers worldwide. \n\nFor years\, G
 oogle has accounted for almost 90% of all search queries in the U.S. and ha
 s used anticompetitive tactics to maintain and extend its monopolies in sea
 rch and search advertising. The lawsuit alleges Google has committed multip
 le violations of Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. \n\n“Google’s stra
 nglehold on America’s search market is not only contrary to our nation’s id
 eals of a free-market economy\, but is also illegal\,” Attorney General Hil
 l said. “Its anticompetitive behavior stifles competition\, consumer choice
  and innovation\, and we hope to see major change as a result of this histo
 ric action.” \n\nAttorney General Hill and the other plaintiffs allege in a
  complaint that Google’s anticompetitive practices have had harmful effects
  on competition and consumers. Google has foreclosed any meaningful search 
 competitors from gaining vital distribution and scale\, eliminating competi
 tion for a majority of search queries in the U.S. By restricting competitio
 n in search\, Google’s conduct has harmed consumers by reducing the quality
  of search\, lessening the choice in search and impeding innovation. \n\nBy
  suppressing competition in advertising\, Google has the power to charge ad
 vertisers more than it could in a competitive market and to reduce the qual
 ity of the services it provides them. Advertisers pay almost $40 billion an
 nually to place ads on Google’s search engine pages. \n\nGoogle\, the compl
 aint says\, has entered into a series of exclusionary agreements that requi
 re Google to be set as the default or exclusive search engine on billions o
 f mobile devices and computers worldwide. Through these agreements\, Google
  locked up the primary avenues through which users access other search engi
 nes. \n\nAdditionally\, the complaint alleges that Google has unlawfully ma
 intained monopolies in search and search advertising by:\n\n    Entering in
 to exclusivity agreements that forbid pre-installation of any competing sea
 rch service\;    Entering into arrangements that force the pre-installation
  of its search applications in prime locations on mobile devices and making
  them unable to be deleted\, regardless of consumer preference\;    Enterin
 g into long-term agreements with Apple that require Google to be the defaul
 t – and de facto exclusive – general search engine on Apple’s popular Safar
 i browser and other Apple search tools\; and    Generally using monopoly pr
 ofits to buy preferential treatment for its search engine on devices\, web 
 browsers and other search access points\, creating a continuous and self-re
 inforcing cycle of monopolization.These and other anticompetitive practices
  harm competition and consumers\, and they reduce the ability of innovative
  new companies to develop\, compete and discipline Google’s behavior. \n\n 
 The civil complaint\, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of 
 Columbia\, is attached.
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SUMMARY:AG Curtis Hill joins federal antitrust lawsuit against Google
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_35085752736489
URL:https://events.in.gov/event/ag-curtis-hill-joins-federal-antitrust-laws
 uit-against-google
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