Both the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and a group of 50 state attorneys general are likely to file antitrust lawsuits against Alphabet Inc.’s Google. The state attorneys general opened an inquiry and began a collaboration with the DOJ in January. However, Google’s influence amidst the current COVID-19 crisis, the lack of antitrust enforcement, and partisan politics in the United States have raised fears of delay. It is still unclear if the lawsuit would be filed as a single case or multiple. Due to its user size that numbers in billions, Google can discourage competitions in many ways. The litigation is yet to be focused on a specific set of practices, such as its advertising business or search business.
Google could face antitrust lawsuits in the United States
Related issues
Related trends
The .org controversy
In November 2019, the Internet Society announced its intention to sell Public Interest Registry – the registry for .org – to investment firm Ethos Capital for US$1.135 billion, generating controversy.