Yelp, a local search company, recently filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of using its search engine monopoly to stifle competition. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, aims to protect consumer choice, recover damages, and prevent Google from engaging in anticompetitive practices.
Yelp focuses on public reviews of local neighborhood businesses and generates revenue through selling local search advertising. The company alleges that Google has abused its “monopoly power in general search” to divert traffic away from competitors and promote its own local search product. Yelp argues that specialized vertical providers (SVPs) like itself pose a threat to Google because of their ability to redirect traffic and ad revenues away from the tech giant.
The lawsuit claims that Google has engaged in various anticompetitive practices, such as stealing information from Yelp’s website and passing it off as its own, prioritizing its own local search results over Yelp’s, implementing a feature called “OneBox” to prioritize its own local search services, and manipulating its algorithm to steer customers away from Yelp.
According to Yelp, these actions by Google prevent other businesses from reaching consumers and achieving scale. This allows Google to maintain dominance in the markets, reduce competition in the ad space, and charge higher fees to advertisers. Yelp argues that Google’s conduct has resulted in lower traffic and ad revenues for the company.
In response, Google has defended itself against the lawsuit, stating that Yelp’s claims are not new and that similar claims have been dismissed by the FTC and the DOJ in the past. Google asserts that its search results have benefited consumers and local businesses, driving billions of connections every month.
Yelp’s general counsel, Aaron Schur, disputes Google’s statement, calling it misleading. He points out that Yelp’s claims have never been pursued in court or thrown out. Schur also mentions a leaked FTC staff memo from a previous investigation that recommended legal action against Google for anticompetitive conduct.
This lawsuit adds to the growing list of antitrust cases against Google. In a separate case filed in 2020, a U.S. District Judge ruled that Google violated antitrust laws by paying mobile manufacturers and browser developers to become the default search engine. Google is also facing an antitrust lawsuit from Epic Games, accusing the company of monopolizing the market for app distribution and payment processing.
The FTC has shown support for strict actions against such practices, filing an amicus brief in the Epic Games case. Additionally, concerns have been raised by the News/Media Alliance regarding Google’s use of publishers’ content to power its artificial intelligence products without compensating the publishers. The alliance believes that Google’s AI Overviews, which appear atop search engine results, will further strengthen Google’s monopoly and reduce publishers’ ability to monetize their content.
Overall, the lawsuit filed by Yelp against Google highlights the ongoing battle over competition and antitrust issues in the tech industry. It raises important questions about the power of dominant search engines and their impact on smaller specialized providers. The outcome of this lawsuit, along with other antitrust cases, could have significant implications for the future of competition in the digital landscape.
