United States: ten states file a complaint against Google

This is a new legal offensive against the leader of online search, Google. Ten states in the United States, led by Texas, have announced that they are launching a lawsuit against the company, which they accuse of anti-competitive practices in the management of advertisements. “This internet ‘Goliath’ has used his power to manipulate the market, destroy competition and harm YOU the consumer,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a video on Twitter announcing the start of the case. . “It is not fair that Google has in fact eliminated the competition and crowned itself as the online advertising manager,” he added.

Ken Paxton is supported by the attorneys general of Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah. All of these states are in the hands of Republicans. “As internal documents reveal, Google has sought to kill the competition by using an array of exclusionary tactics, including entering into an illegal deal with Facebook, its biggest potential competitive threat, to manipulate ad auctions.” , says the document. The group acts as an intermediary between advertisers and sites, and manages the main platform where they meet: it is as if it is “both the pitcher, the batter and the referee” in the electronic market of online advertising, denounces the complaint by referring to baseball.

According to calculations by the research firm eMarketer, Google is deriving more and more revenue from advertising in the United States: 42 billion in 2020 against 37 billion in 2018. But its share of the total online advertising market is declining there, to 29.8% this year against 32.8% in 2018. The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which represents companies in the sector, underlined in a press release supporting “the application of antitrust laws where consumers are injured ”.

Waiting for proof

But, she adds, “we are waiting to see evidence of harm to consumers as ad prices have fallen dramatically over the past decade and competition has intensified.” The procedure announced Wednesday represents in any case an additional difficulty for the Californian company, whose model based on free services and targeted advertising based on user data is in the spotlight.

Google is indeed already facing a complaint from the US government, which in October accused the group of maintaining an “illegal monopoly” on online research and advertising. The company founded in 1998 is criticized for having used and abused techniques to exclude its competitors, often being “judge and jury”. Several digital platforms, including Amazon, TripAdvisor and Yelp, have already lamented the fact that Google promotes its own offers in search results.

Texas, like other states, also joined the ministry’s complaint. According to the Politico website, several American states led by the attorneys general of Colorado and Nebraska could also file another complaint as early as Thursday against Google, more specifically targeting its search engine. To win in court, however, authorities will have to show that the Californian group has harmed consumers – while its tools – email, maps, reservations – are generally free.