States To File New Google Antitrust Suit This Week

A coalition of states is finishing an antitrust lawsuit against Google focused on its power in the online search market that could be filed as soon as Thursday, December 17, reported Business Insider.

The complaint, led by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat, and Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, a Republican, is expected to allege that Google has altered the designs of its search engine to the disadvantage of rivals that offer specialized search results, two other people close to the investigation said.

That differs from the antitrust suit that the Justice Department filed against Google in October, with the support from 11 Republican state attorneys general. That complaint focused more narrowly on the exclusive contracts the company has signed with Apple, Mozilla, and manufacturers of Android-powered smartphones to set Google as the default search engine on their browsers and mobile devices. (California has since asked to join that suit.)

The Justice Department suit has led a burst of antitrust cases against some of Silicon Valley’s most titanic companies, including a suit that the Federal Trade Commission and dozens of states filed last week seeking a breakup of Facebook. Future state- and DOJ-led lawsuits targeting other aspects of Google’s ad-driven business are expected in the coming weeks and months. The DOJ is also probing Apple, and the FTC has been investigating Amazon, though those cases are in earlier stages.

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