Yelp Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google Following Landmark Monopoly Ruling

On Wednesday, Yelp, the platform for finding and reviewing local businesses, filed a lawsuit against Google in federal court in San Francisco. Yelp’s lawsuit accuses Google of leveraging its dominance in general search to unfairly edge out competition in the local search market. According to The New York Times, Yelp is seeking unspecified damages and a court order to halt Google’s alleged anticompetitive practices.

Yelp has long been a vocal critic of Google, highlighting concerns over how the search engine giant displays and prioritizes search results from other companies. Jeremy Stoppelman, Yelp’s co-founder and CEO, described the lawsuit as a “watershed moment” in an interview. “This is the time to have the conversation, this is the time to correct past wrongs,” Stoppelman said, underscoring the significance of the legal action.

Related: Google Faces Possible Breakup as Justice Department Weighs Antitrust Remedies

Yelp’s lawsuit leans on a recent ruling from Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which found that Google had abused its power over online search. The ruling came after the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and several states accused Google of illegally maintaining its monopoly by paying companies like Apple and Samsung billions of dollars to make Google the default search engine on their devices.

As per The New York Times, the DOJ is contemplating asking Judge Mehta to break up Google, although this decision is pending further hearings set to begin in September. Meanwhile, Google has announced plans to appeal the ruling, signaling a prolonged legal battle.

Yelp’s lawsuit could be the first of many, as Judge Mehta’s decision provides a legal foundation for other companies that believe they have been similarly affected by Google’s dominance.

Source: The New York Times