Google faces an avalanche of antitrust business in the United States: report

In the United States, federal and state regulators are preparing to launch antitrust lawsuits alleging that Google has abused its dominance of online search and advertising to stifle competition and increase profits, according to a report released Friday.

The Wall Street Journal cited unidentified people who know the probes in a story about the upcoming US Justice Department offensive. United States And attorneys general of several states.

The Justice Department may file its case as early as this summer, while Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton may take action in the fall, along with his peers in other states, according to the Journal.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr had previously said he hoped to decide to file an antitrust lawsuit against Google for the summer. Texas and other states announced that they were investigating Google's business practices last September.

Google acknowledged that it had ongoing discussions with the Department of Justice and Paxton without giving details of the nature of the talks. "Our firm objective is to provide services that help consumers, support thousands of businesses and allow for greater variety and competition," the company said in a statement.

It is not the first time that Google has gone under the antitrust microscope in the United States. United States The Federal Trade Commission closed an in-depth investigation into Google’s abuse allegations in 2013 without taking any action, as it concluded that California-based Mountain View company is not doing harm to consumers.

Since then, Google has become even more powerful under the umbrella of parent company Alphabet, which it created five years ago. When the FTC closed its file, Google was generating $ 50 billion in annual revenue. Last year, Alphabet achieved sales of $ 162 billion.

Most of the money comes from a digital advertising market that Google dominates with social media rival Facebook, another potential target for antitrust regulators. However, it has not been said if Facebook could be prosecuted.

Google is the larger of the two online advertising giants, thanks mainly to a search engine that has become synonymous with searching for things. The company also has the world's first Chrome web browser, the world's largest mobile operating system on Android, the best YouTube video site, and the most popular digital mapping system.

Google has always maintained that its services face wide competition and has sparked innovations that help people manage their lives. Most services are offered for free in exchange for personal information that helps Google sell your ads.

Antitrust regulators in Europe have tried to crack down on Google by imposing fines of millions of dollars and ordering changes to their practices.

But company critics say the sanctions have not been severe enough and argue that more extreme measures will be needed for Google to change the way it does business. This could include an attempt by the government to force Google to abandon its various services into separate companies, an effort the company would likely fiercely oppose.

---

In 2020, will WhatsApp get the killer functionality every Indian expects? We talk about it on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple podcasts

or RSS, download the episodeor just hit the play button below.