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Inside the Yelp Suit: Allegations of Google’s Abuse of Search Power

By  |  August 29, 2024
Yelp

Yelp has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of leveraging its dominant position in the search market to unfairly promote its own services at the expense of competitors. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, comes just weeks after a federal judge labeled Google as a “monopolist,” adding another layer of scrutiny to the company’s business practices.

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    According to the New York Post, Yelp’s lawsuit centers on the allegation that Google is using its overwhelming control of the general search market to “divert traffic away from those rivals and toward Google’s own inferior local search product.” Yelp, a longtime rival of Google that specializes in aggregating customer reviews for a wide range of businesses, contends that this is part of a broader strategy by Google to prioritize its own services in search results, effectively stifling competition.

    The lawsuit further argues that Google’s practices force businesses to pay for visibility on the platform, depriving competitors of the necessary traffic and revenue to challenge Google’s dominance. “Google’s scheme prevents businesses from reaching customers without paying Google and starves competitors of the traffic and revenues that would allow them to achieve scale and pose a competitive constraint on Google’s conduct,” Yelp claims in the lawsuit, per the New York Post.

    Related: Yelp Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google Following Landmark Monopoly Ruling

    This legal action adds to Google’s growing list of challenges, as the company is already facing a separate antitrust lawsuit from the Department of Justice (DOJ). That case, which is set to begin on September 9, targets Google’s alleged monopoly over digital advertising and seeks a breakup of its advertising technology business. Meanwhile, Google is appealing a recent ruling by US District Judge Amit Mehta, which found the company guilty of violating antitrust laws by securing its position as the default search engine on most smartphones through lucrative deals.

    In response to Yelp’s lawsuit, a Google spokesperson dismissed the claims as “not new,” noting that similar allegations were previously dismissed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and in the ongoing DOJ case. “Google will vigorously defend against Yelp’s meritless claims,” the spokesperson said, according to the New York Post.

    Yelp’s lawsuit also accuses Google of “scraping” its customer reviews to populate Google’s own local search results without providing proper credit or compensation. Additionally, Yelp asserts that Google’s local search results are often riddled with errors and are of lower quality compared to its own offerings.

    Source: The New York Post