The U.S. Government Has Investigated 14 Months And May File An Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google Recently

Several media said the U.S. Department of justice will launch an antitrust lawsuit against Google in the near future, after 14 months of investigation by the U.S. government.

William Barr, the U.S. attorney general, filed the largest antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft since Friday. Since the U.S. Federal Trade Commission stopped investigating Google in 2013, the company has not been approached by law enforcement officials for a long time.

More than half of the state attorneys general are preparing an investigation

Some people close to the case revealed that the U.S. Department of justice will file an antitrust lawsuit against Google as soon as the next week, but the plan may be delayed, according to two people familiar with the matter. Several state attorneys general and Justice Department attorneys were in Washington last week to make final preparations for the case.

As early as the beginning of this month, a number of media have reported that the U.S. Department of justice will launch an antitrust lawsuit against Google, and more than half of the state attorney general is preparing to investigate Google's potential antitrust violations. It was reported at the time that the U.S. Department of justice's antitrust lawsuit against Google could be officially announced in the second week of September.

Outside Washington, D.C., some states have investigated the growing influence of large technology companies. In March, Louisiana and Mississippi severely questioned Google's use of user's personal information and algorithm technology for search results, the report said. This summer, some state attorneys general have met in secret with the Federal Department of justice to discuss broader investigations into antitrust concerns of large technology companies.

At the Aspen forum held by the US Institute of technology policy on August 18, Makan delrahim, assistant prosecutor of the Department of justice's antitrust division, said that the federal government was consulting with some state officials, and it was conservatively estimated that more than 12 state attorneys general had expressed interest in anti-monopoly investigations by technology companies.

Legal experts: it is difficult for the government to win the lawsuit

"Generally speaking, when the judicial department brings a lawsuit, the winning rate is higher than that of competitors, but it is far from winning," Zhang Taisu, a professor of Yale Law School, told 21st century economic news. The basic judgment standard of American antitrust law is to have a negative impact on the rights and interests of consumers, especially the economic interests of consumers, rather than simply "hinder competition". Therefore, it is more difficult for the government to win the lawsuit. "

On September 28, the Northern District Court of California just concluded the online hearing of game company epic games against Apple's App Store antitrust case. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers pointed out that although such an important case at the forefront of anti-monopoly law can be handled by one or more judges, public opinion is very important, and it may be more appropriate for ordinary people to participate in the trial as a jury.

Zhang Taisu said: "major cases of anti-monopoly law generally need to be verified by the jury, because the core of the case is often the question of whether the behavior of the accused party has caused the market price of the products involved in the case to rise", which is generally determined by the jury

However, Zhang Taisu believes that the U.S. government's recent push for progress in Google's antitrust case clearly has political considerations. "The Ministry of justice under this administration is too political to fully believe its professional judgment."

Focus: search engines, digital advertising and Android

According to the 21st century economic report, the reporter learned from the anti-monopoly hearing of the four GAFA technology giants (Google, Amazon, Facebook and apple) at the end of July that the anti-monopoly panel of the judicial committee of the US House of Representatives is expected to release the final report on the details of the anti-monopoly investigation of this large-scale technology enterprise in late summer and early autumn.

Through combing the hearing and legal documents on Google's monopoly accusation, the reporter found that Google is likely to face antitrust lawsuits from the government on search engine, digital advertising and Android system.

Earlier, Kelly Armstrong, a member of the US House of Representatives, accused Google of favoring its services in search engine results. According to jumpshot, more than half of Google's desktop search leads users to Google's own products instead of letting users click on other websites. On the mobile terminal, more than 70% of search results will intercept users on Google products instead of letting users click on other websites.

Because of Google's position in the field of digital search, Google controls online advertising. Last September, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton led a joint anti-monopoly investigation by 48 states against Google. He said the investigation would focus on Google's digital advertising business, emphasizing Google's monopoly in the advertising market and its use of user data.

According to market research firm emarketer, Google's advertising revenue accounted for 31.6% of all digital advertising spending in the United States, ranking first, followed by Facebook and Amazon, accounting for 22.7% and 7.8% respectively.

In addition, Google forced Android mobile devices to pre install Google browser, and forced application developers to use the in app payment method and extract the transaction amount from the transaction amount, which are also the focus of the anti-monopoly government department's investigation.