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“Google is a monopolist.” That’s what U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta declared in his recent ruling against the search giant in an antitrust case brought by the U.S. Justice Department. This case focused on Google’s $20 billion deal with Apple, which ensured Google Search remained the default search engine on the iPhone. However, this lawsuit may just be the beginning.
Yelp, a local business review platform, has now filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google regarding its dominance in local search and local search advertising. Yelp’s CEO, Jeremy Stoppelman, accused Google of prioritizing its own local search product and stifling competition. When searching for a local business on Google, the search giant’s information is prominently displayed, often overshadowing competitors.
Yelp accuses Google of manipulating search results to promote its own local search offerings above competitors, even if the quality is inferior. This has led to a decrease in clicks on links recommended by Yelp. The lawsuit cites past cases against Google and fines for anticompetitive practices, highlighting Google’s self-preferencing behavior in search results.
Yelp sees an opportunity after Judge Mehta’s ruling and aims to ensure Google can no longer prioritize its own products in local search. The company believes that Google’s actions harm not just Yelp, but other businesses as well. Google has yet to comment on the matter.
