e: There is no evidence that Google hurt competitors by limiting their search visibility
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia did not find any evidence that Google hurt rivals by limiting the visibility of their searches.
Google has been cleared of this part of the DOJ Antitrust Lawsuit, which began in 2020. However, Google will be in court beginning Sept. 12, 2018. Google will defend its Search Ads 360 and deals it has made to make sure that the company is the default search engine for mobile devices and web browsers.
Why do we care? We will watch to see if Google is found guilty for stifling the competition in mobile phones and browser deals, or its ad-buying.
Google is accused of hurting niche companies. Specific by:
- Google Search Results: Limit the visibility of SVPs
- Google should not be able to demand that SVPs provide their data on less favorable terms than they do to other companies.
- Amit P.Mehta, judge, wrote: “With regard to those allegations Plaintiffs haven’t demonstrated the required anticompetitive effects in the relevant market to make out an Section 2 prima facie claim.”
Google is accused of using Search Ads 360 (SA360) to harm competitors. Google has been accused of “harming the competition by delaying implementation of SA360 features for Microsoft Ads which have been available to Google Ads for a long time, thus harmed Microsoft’s competitiveness.” Other rivals mentioned included Skai Marin and Adobe.
Google released a new version SA360 on February 20, 2022. It added four new features (dynamic search ads, local inventory ads, and call extensions), and stated that it was testing the fifth feature (auction time bidding) in question.
- “…there is a genuine material dispute as to whether Google’s development of SA360 ad buying features has an anticompetitive impact. Mehta wrote that summary judgment was denied in relation to this part of the Attorneys’ General claims.
Google’s statement Google released the following statement via Court dismisses claims by state AG about Google Search
- We appreciate the Court’s thoughtful consideration and decision to dismiss the claims regarding Google Search. Our engineers built Search to help you find the information you need quickly. Google is a great way to find information. People are using it more than ever because they like the service. Kent Walker, Google’s President of Global Affairs and Chief Legal Officer said: “We look forward to proving at trial that promoting our services and distributing them is both legal as well as pro-competitive.”
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