Individual Lawsuits Mount Against Big Tech Over Monopoly Concerns

Amid the current torrent of legal issues facing Google over antitrust concerns is that of “Mr. Sweepy,” who alleges the tech giant’s practices bled his website dry, The New York Times reports.

Craig McDaniel uses the name “Mr. Sweepy” in operating a site called Sweepstakes Today. The site aggregates prize contests around the country, and garners revenue partly from Google ads.

The Times reports that McDaniel filed a lawsuit in December alleging he was entitled to “substantial” damages. For years, the report says, McDaniel was able to collect revenue in the area of around $150,000, turning a profit. However, revenues began to fall off around 2012, which McDaniel’s lawsuit blames on the growing dominance of Google in the online ad field.

On a GoFundMe page, McDaniel says the drop in revenue was so drastic he could go out of business. He adds that Google harmed his revenues by classifying his site as one focused on online gambling, which made him receive lower-quality ads.

“As Google has literally taken over the internet, it is nearly impossible for companies to operate in this area without utilizing some Google service, thereby subjecting themselves to Google’s arbitrary rules and policies,” John Herman, Mr. McDaniel’s lawyer, said in a statement, according to The New York Times.

In addition to the larger federal and state cases against the tech giant, there have been at least 10 others, many of which lean on evidence from the government investigations, including one suit that went after both Google and Facebook, saying they’d worked together to enact a monopoly on online ads.

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) has plans to put forward a bill to boost competition laws and antitrust enforcement. Her proposals would revive the Clayton Act as well as putting more burden on companies seeking a merger to prove the merger wouldn’t risk suppressing competition.