NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The Internet giant Google (Alphabet C (ex Google)) has to deal with another antitrust legal dispute in the USA. A total of 38 states filed a lawsuit on Thursday over an alleged illegal monopoly of the company, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced. Google is accused of hindering competition in web search and in the digital advertising business. The company also uses its market power to keep smaller competitors away and to collect user data, which leads to disadvantages for consumers.
It is the third US antitrust lawsuit against the subsidiary of Alphabet (Alphabet A (ex Google)) within a few months. In October, the US Department of Justice and eleven states targeted Google, and it wasn’t until Wednesday that a Texas-led alliance of ten states opened another legal battle. Again, it is about violations of competition law and consumer protection laws. The company monopolizes the market for online advertising and does not keep to data protection promises. Google rejected the allegations against US media as unfounded.
In addition, the Justice Department announced in Washington on Thursday that three other states want to join the US federal government’s lawsuit. The attorneys general of Michigan, Wisconsin and California had made appropriate requests, the ministry said. This means that a total of 14 federal states are now involved in this process./hbr/DP/mis