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Bipartisan AGs To File Google Antitrust Suit Next Month: Report

By  |  November 23, 2020

According to a report from Reuters, a bipartisan group of state attorneys general plans to file an antitrust suit against Google as early as next month.

The lawsuit is separate from a widely anticipated Texas antitrust action that could also come before the end of the year, according to two people briefed on the matter.

The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google in October, and this group of states has stated it planned to combine its case with the government’s. The states are Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah.

One source said the states planned to file the lawsuit in federal court in mid to late December while the second said the target date was December 15.

The group has had an expansive probe underway into Google’s businesses, including Android. No final decisions had been made regarding what would be included in the lawsuit, a third source said.

Texas and other states are focusing on Google’s dominance of digital advertising, reported Reuters.

Google has broadly denied wrongdoing in response to the government’s lawsuit and other probes, and stated that its search engine and other products are dominant because consumers prefer them.