The US Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google for alleged abuse of search dominance by the Internet giant, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said on Tuesday.
"This morning the Department of Justice in 11 states filed an antitrust civil lawsuit against Google for unlawfully maintaining a monopoly in general of their services and search advertising in violation of section 2 of the Sherman Act," Rosen said.
The US Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Google is “deeply flawed," the Internet search giant said in a statement distributed via Twitter on Tuesday.
Today’s lawsuit by the Department of Justice is deeply flawed. People use Google because they choose to -- not because they're forced to or because they can't find alternatives. We will have a full statement this morning.
— Google Public Policy (@googlepubpolicy) October 20, 2020
Tech Giants Pressed Over Their Policies
The US tech giants have been facing much pressure following a wave of scandals that compromised users' privacy. In July, the US Department of Justice announced that it had opened an antitrust investigation into Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon to discover whether they have "hurt competition, suppressed innovation or otherwise harmed consumers". The DoJ's investigation has focused on search engines, social media platforms, as well as retail.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticised the tech giants recently, accusing Facebook and Google of being biased against him and conservative politicians in general. He also promised his supporters to hold certain companies accountable for allegedly silencing conservative voices.
Google has also faced similar legal challenges abroad. Last year, the European Union fined the corporation $1.7 billion for stopping websites from using other search engines except Google to find advertisers.
