The U.S. Justice Department Will Sue Google Over 'Anti-Competitive Practices'

by Kay Lee

Next week, the U.S. Justice Department intends to file a lawsuit against Google over "anti-competitive practices." In this lawsuit, the company is accused of undermining competing search engines such as Microsoft Bing and others.

It is noted that by limiting search services access to data about users and their preferences, Google prevents its competitors from improving their search and advertising platforms. The search giant has denied these allegations.

"While we continue to engage with ongoing investigations, our focus is on creating free products that lower costs for small businesses and help Americans every day," Google spokesperson Julie Tarallo McAlister said.

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The Internet ProtocolKay Lee

The U.S. Justice Department is also looking into Google's advertising business. The company sells advertising space under the search box when someone looks up a consumer product. Also, officials were interested in the tools for running such ads.

State attorneys general have reportedly been asked to sign the lawsuit, and some of them are even already investigating other areas of Google's business.

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Last year, the European Commission fined Google with €1,49 billion for trying to consolidate its dominance in search advertising by restricting the use of competing search engines. Thus, search engines such as Bing and Yahoo were prevented from displaying their ads on those websites.