Google's Long Tail of Government Probes
October 20 2020 - 10:56AM
Dow Jones News
By Brent Kendall and Valentina Pop
Alphabet Inc.'s Google spent well more than a decade under the
antitrust microscope in the U.S. and Europe before the Justice
Department filed its lawsuit Tuesday. Here are some highlights:
December 2007: The Federal Trade Commission allows Google to buy
online advertising firm DoubleClick, a crucial acquisition in
boosting Google's power as an ad broker. A dissenting commissioner
warns that the deal could substantially lessen competition in the
internet advertising market. The European Union approves the deal a
few months later.
May 2010: The FTC approves Google's acquisition of
mobile-advertising firm AdMob, which expands Google's reach in the
digital advertising ecosystem. The commission says the acquisition
raised serious antitrust issues, but it says it believes Apple Inc.
will preserve competition. That prediction proves incorrect, as
Apple shuts its ad network several years later.
November 2010: The EU launches an antitrust investigation into
allegations that Google abused its dominant position in online
search, after receiving several complaints from the company's
rivals and critics, including news publishers and specialized
search engines such as Expedia and Tripadvisor. ( News Corp,
publisher of The Wall Street Journal, eventually joins in.)
June 2011: The FTC begins investigating Google's search
practices, including whether it favored its own products and
services and unfairly harmed rivals. It is the first broad
examination of the company's practices by U.S. domestic antitrust
enforcers.
May 2012: European Commissioner for Competition Joaquín Almunia
decides not to issue formal charges and starts negotiations with
Google to alleviate grievances by companies that claim they were
harmed by the search giant.
January 2013: The FTC closes its Google probe without bringing a
case, saying the company both improved products for consumers and
hobbled rivals. Google makes several voluntary commitments,
including a promise not to misappropriate content from rivals'
websites.
September 2014: The EU's Mr. Almunia says Google must improve
its proposed concessions or face formal charges. A tentative
agreement he and the company previously reached on changes in
Google's practices collapses after a wave of criticism that the
restrictions on Google were too weak.
November 2014: Margrethe Vestager takes over as EU competition
commissioner and says she plans more aggressive antitrust
enforcement.
April 2015: The EU files its first charges against Google,
accusing the company of skewing search results to favor its
shopping service. Ms. Vestager also opens an investigation into the
company's conduct in connection with its Android mobile operating
system.
April 2016: The EU files formal charges in the Android probe,
alleging Google used its market power to strong-arm phone makers
and telecommunications companies into favoring its search engine
and browser on their devices.
July 2016: Google's AdSense business is hit with formal charges
by the EU, which accuses Google of restricting websites from
displaying search ads from competitors.
June 2017: The EU imposes a EUR2.4 billion fine, equivalent to
$2.7 billion, and remedies on Google for giving an illegal
advantage to its own comparison shopping service. Google appeals
the decision at the EU General Court a few months later. (The
appeal is pending.)
July 2018: The EU imposes a EUR4.3 billion ($5 billion) fine and
remedies on Google for allegedly having used illegal practices to
strengthen the dominance of its search engine on Android mobile
devices. Google appeals. (The company's appeal hasn't been
resolved.)
January 2019: During his Senate confirmation hearing to lead the
U.S. Justice Department, William Barr signals he will take aim at
Big Tech. "I don't think big is necessarily bad, but I think a lot
of people wonder how such huge behemoths that now exist in Silicon
Valley have taken shape under the nose of the antitrust enforcers,"
he says.
March 2019: The EU imposes a EUR1.49 billion ($1.7 billion) fine
on Google for abusive practices in online advertising. The company
appeals. (This appeal, too, is pending.)
June 2019: The Justice Department moves forward with an
investigation of Google, following months of negotiations with the
FTC to secure jurisdiction for the probe. A month later, the
department announces it is opening a broader review of dominant
online platforms.
September 2019: A group of 48 states, plus the District of
Columbia and Puerto Rico, begin investigating Google, initially
focusing on its digital advertising practices. Several state
attorneys general announce the probe in front of the Supreme Court
building.
October 2020: The Justice Department files an antitrust lawsuit
against Google, alleging the company is engaging in anticompetitive
conduct to preserve monopolies in online search and search
advertising.
Write to Brent Kendall at brent.kendall@wsj.com and Valentina
Pop at valentina.pop@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 20, 2020 10:41 ET (14:41 GMT)
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