By Ryan Tracy
WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against
Alphabet Inc.'s Google drew bipartisan praise from lawmakers and
cheers from the company's competitors, while prompting skepticism
and accusations of political bias from larger technology companies
and critics of the Trump administration.
The reactions foreshadowed the lengthy debate to come from
Washington to Silicon Valley over the merits of a government
enforcement action targeting one of America's most successful
companies.
"It cannot escape notice that this suit was hurried out on the
eve of an election where the [Trump] Administration has
aggressively pressured tech companies to take actions in its
favor," said a statement from the Computer & Communications
Industry Association, whose members include larger tech companies
such as Google, Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.
"Antitrust law should be driven by consumers' interests, not
political imperatives," the group said. "We look forward to a
court's review of the facts and the evidence."
Justice Department officials, speaking to reporters Tuesday,
said politics played no role in the decision to file the suit,
which they described as targeted at the core of Google's
business.
"The department moves ahead when the facts and the law support
doing so, and when there is a conclusion that governmental action
would be beneficial to competition," said Deputy Attorney General
Jeffrey Rosen.
Google itself called the suit, which accused it of unlawfully
maintaining a monopoly on online searches, "deeply flawed."
"People use Google because they choose to, not because they're
forced to, or because they can't find alternatives," said Kent
Walker, the company's chief legal officer, in a blog post.
Rep. David Cicilline (D., R.I.) who led a recent House probe
accusing Google of anticompetitive conduct, called the lawsuit
"long overdue" and said he hoped the case would go beyond search to
focus on "anticompetitive business practices Google is using to
leverage this monopoly into other areas, such as maps, browsers,
video, and voice assistants."
Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.), the former attorney general of
Missouri, told reporters on a conference call that the suit was a
sign of growing discontent with tech companies. He recalled how
years ago he struggled to recruit other states to join him in an
investigation into Google.
"Seeing the case header 'United States vs. Google' is a
wonderful, wonderful thing," Mr. Hawley said.
Companies that have raised concerns about Google's market power
saw the suit as an opportunity, though they cautioned that much is
riding on the outcome.
"Historians will hopefully look at today as the beginning of the
end of the surveillance economy. But the only way that happens is
through action that achieves meaningful results," said DuckDuckGo
CEO Gabriel Weinberg in a statement. The company has a search
engine and web browser that competes with Google.
Yelp Inc., the search company that provides crowdsourced
business reviews, called the move "a critical first step." Yelp's
longstanding complaints about bias in Google's search results
weren't directly called out in the suit,
"Yelp applauds the work of the DOJ and encourages swift action
by state attorneys general who are conducting parallel
investigations into other aspects of Google's business," said a
blog post from Luther Lowe, the company's senior vice president of
public policy.
David Chavern, CEO of the News Media Alliance, which represents
news publishers, expressed disappointment that the federal suit
didn't include ad technology, an industry of serving ads online
where many companies that deal with Google say it has expanded and
abused its power, taking revenue from publishers. Google denies
abusing its power.
"News publishers are particularly harmed by Google's control of
ad tech -- and that doesn't appear to be covered at all by the
DOJ's action today," Mr. Chavern said.
News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, has long complained
to antitrust authorities at home and abroad about both Google's
search practices and its dominance in digital advertising. A News
Corp spokesman declined to comment Tuesday.
The lawsuit was joined by 11 state attorneys general, all
Republicans. Alex Harman, competition policy advocate at the
advocacy group Public Citizen, said the lack of bipartisan support,
along with the narrow focus of the suit, "is evidence of an
unserious approach driven by politics."
A statement put out by a bipartisan group of states attorneys
general, including Democrat Letitia James of New York, said they
were conducting their own investigation of Google and could
eventually decide to join the federal suit later if they decide to
file their own case.
Write to Ryan Tracy at ryan.tracy@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 20, 2020 14:02 ET (18:02 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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