Facebook and Google will be hit with FOUR more antitrust lawsuits’

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Facebook and Google ‘will be hit with FOUR more antitrust lawsuits in the coming weeks’ in latest move against Big Tech

  • The Wall Street Journal cites unnamed sources claiming four more lawsuits are expected from The Justice Department 
  • They will allege that both companies use unfair tactics to corner the market 
  • Google is already being sued by the Justice Department and seven states also plan to sue the company 
  • Facebook has not yet been named as a defendant in any lawsuit   

By Jennifer Smith For Dailymail.com

Published: | Updated:

Facebook and Google are expected to be hit with four more antitrust lawsuits in the next few weeks, sources have told The Wall Street Journal. 

Google has already been sued by the Department of Justice for its practices which they say unfairly corners the market and makes it impossible for anyone to compete. 

Now, the sources say authorities are gearing up to level similar accusations at Facebook – which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – and that it plans to bring more claims against Google. 

Sundar Pichai

Facebook has not yet been named as a defendant in an antitrust lawsuit but Google has. CEOs Mark Zuckerberg (left) and Sundar Pichai (right)

It is the latest move against Big Tech by the outgoing Trump administration and comes after years of concern on both sides of the aisle about how much power the two companies have. 

Google is being investigated for its dominance of search and advertising, whereas Facebook is being investigated for its dominance of social media. 

In the lawsuit filed last month, the Justice Department alleged that Google used unfair practices to dominate the market. 

It was previously reported that as many as seven states were planning to file lawsuits against Google. 

The states are Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah.

The lawsuit is separate from a widely anticipated Texas antitrust action that could also come before the end of the year.  

The states argue that Google is illegally protecting its dominant position in the market for search and search advertising with the deals it has struck with companies like Apple. 

One source said the states planned to file the lawsuit in federal court in mid to late December while the second said the target date was December 15.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT LAWSUIT AT A GLANCE

The Department of Justice lawsuit claims that Google is breaching The Sherman Act by unfairly locking up portions of the market.

There are three facets to how the government claims it does this;  

1) Dominating search engine space

Google, through both its deals placing its search engine above others on devices and through public interest in it, accounts for 80 percent of every internet search in the US 

In 2020, it accounted for 94% of all mobile searches in the US  

2) Monetizing its dominance through ads

Google monetizes the amount people use it with ads, which generate around $40billion in revenue every year 

3) Spending its billions to cement its dominance with ‘exclusionary deals’

With the money it makes through ads, Google pays companies like Apple, LG and others to block out any of its competitors from having their search engine preferred on devices 

Among the deals is one with Apple. Google is the default on Safari on iPhones and it’s also the default on Siri.

The deal amounts to up to a fifth of Apple’s worldwide income which last year would have been around $11billion