Several US states have decided to attack Google with lawsuits antitrust, accusing the digital giant of having abused its dominant position by highlighting its own offers among the results of its search engine, said the Politico website on Tuesday.
A complaint could be filed as early as Thursday by the attorneys general of Colorado and Nebraska, according to the American media, which quotes several anonymous sources.
Several digital platforms, including Amazon, TripAdvisor or Yelp, which offer recommended products or services, have complained that Google promotes its own offers in search results.
State lawsuits must highlight that Google’s search engine is disadvantaging its competitors by design, according to Politico.
An additional challenge for the Mountain View, Calif., Company, whose model based on free services and targeted advertising based on user data finds itself in the spotlight after the US department sues de la Jusrice.
The US government attacked Google in October, accusing the group of maintaining an “illegal monopoly” on online search and advertising, at the same time launching the largest anti-concentration investigation in decades. , and opening the door to a possible dismantling of the giant.
These lawsuits, scheduled to last for several years, draw a new line of divide between the government and large digital companies, with potentially huge consequences for the sector.
However, proving the abuse of a dominant position could turn out to be a challenge for the federal authorities, as lawyers deem it difficult to prove the illegal nature of Google’s activities since the service is generally free, therefore without consequences for the “good. -being of the consumer ”.
For the Department of Justice, Google has strengthened its monopoly by signing agreements with device manufacturers so that its applications and services are installed by default, sometimes without the possibility of erasing them.
Google for its part described these lawsuits as “deeply flawed”.