A group of 38 states, including Nevada, filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Google on Thursday, alleging that the search giant has an illegal monopoly over the online search market that hurts consumers and advertisers.
The lawsuit was announced by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. by states represented by bipartisan attorneys general.
“Virtually every day, consumers rely on search engines to find essential goods and services,” said Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford. “But consumers do not realize how their choices are impacted by conduct behind the scenes. The same was true 40 years ago when the Department of Justice pursued the telephone monopoly, and 20 years ago when it addressed monopolistic conduct in the internet-browsing context. As technology evolves, it is important to keep competition alive for the benefit of all consumers. This lawsuit seeks to do just that.”
The case is the third antitrust salvo to slam Google during the past nine weeks as the Department of Justice and attorneys general from across the U.S. weigh in with their different variations on how they believe the company is abusing its immense power.
The lawsuit includes the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah. The executive committee is joined by the attorneys general of Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, and the territories of Guam and Puerto Rico.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
