The US government sued Google for monopoly

The US government’s landmark antitrust case against Google begins today in Washington. According to the complaint, the tech giant is abusing its monopoly position. American correspondent John Postma said, “The precursors are not good for the US government.

According to Postma, the US justice system has been working on the case for years and charges were filed three years ago. The bottom line: Google has such a powerful monopoly that other search engines no longer interfere, so the company can charge whatever it wants for ads. ‘And that lead over the competition is still growing.’

Justice is concerned not only with the current state of competition but also with the future. It also takes into account developments around artificial intelligence. According to Postma, there are fears that Google’s lead will increase further as a result of this development.

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Google denies monopoly status

Google defends itself by saying that everything is done within legal frameworks, rules and agreements, and that consumers are completely free to use another search engine. The company is bargaining for its monopoly position: competition is generated not only by other search engines, but also by social media. According to Google, more consumers are also searching through media such as Spotify and YouTube.

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Apple, Amazon and Meta are watching with interest

Meanwhile, companies like Apple, Amazon and Meta fear a precedent and are anxiously watching how the lawsuit will play out. Nevertheless, Postma doubts the impact of potential precedent. “They are more careful in the US than in Brussels. With European Commissioner Vestager threatening to break up Google, the chances of this in the US don’t look great.

Breaking up Google has consequences

According to Postma, separation takes more effort; The way work needs to be adjusted and consumers and other companies will take notice. If you no longer have to pay for priority position in search results, it costs companies a lot of money.

Postma recalled the class action lawsuits the U.S. Justice Department fought with IBM and Microsoft. Both the legends won their cases. “The precedents are not favorable to the government and the case is expected to last two months.”