Yelp has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google. As CNN<\/em> reports<\/a>, the move caps off years of animosity between the two companies, with Yelp alleging<\/a> that Google has leveraged its control over online searching to dominate local queries and prioritize its own reviews.<\/p>\n “Google abuses its monopoly power in general search to keep users within Google\u2019s owned ecosystem and prevents them from going to rival sites,” Yelp Co-founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said in a blog post<\/a> announcing the suit. “This anticompetitive conduct siphons traffic and advertising revenue from vertical search services, like Yelp, that provide objectively higher quality local business content for consumers.”<\/p>\n The US lawsuit could carry extra weight following a Department of Justice case where the judge deemed Google a monopolist<\/a> over search. The August ruling did not place any sanctions on Google, but it’s likely that Yelp’s case will be the first of many brought by the tech company’s competitors.<\/p>\n In response to a request for comment, a Google spokesperson told Engadget:<\/p>\n \u201cYelp\u2019s claims are not new. Similar claims were thrown out years ago by the FTC<\/a>, and recently by the judge<\/a> in the DOJ\u2019s case. On the other aspects of the decision to which Yelp refers, we are appealing. Google will vigorously defend against Yelp\u2019s meritless claims.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n While this lawsuit centers on the US, Yelp has also been sounding off about Google’s practices overseas. The European Digital Markets Act<\/a> was meant to loosen some of the company’s stranglehold over search results with rules to prevent massive tech businesses from favoring their own services. But Yelp argued<\/a> that Google’s attempt at DMA compliance actually made users less likely to leave the Google ecosystem.<\/p>\n In a statement regarding the suit, Yelp\u2019s General Counsel Aaron Schur said:<\/p>\n “Yelp\u2019s antitrust lawsuit against Google addresses how Google abuses its illegal monopoly in general search to engage in anticompetitive conduct, including self-preferencing its own inferior local product, to dominate the local search and local search advertising markets. For years, Google has leveraged its monopoly in general search to pad its own bottom line at the expense of what\u2019s best for consumers, innovation, and fair competition. By willfully engaging in exclusionary, anticompetitive conduct, Google has driven traffic and revenue away from competitors, made it harder for them to scale, and increased their costs, while degrading consumer choice, to grow its own market power.<\/p>\n Judge Amit Mehta\u2019s recent ruling in the government\u2019s antitrust case against Google, finding Google illegally maintained its monopoly in general search, is a watershed moment in antitrust law, and provides a strong foundation for Yelp\u2019s case against Google. In addition to injunctive relief, Yelp seeks a remedy that ensures Google can no longer self-preference in local search. The harms caused by Google\u2019s self-preferencing are not unique to Yelp, and we look forward to telling our story in court.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Update, August 28, 8:15PM ET: <\/strong>This story was updated after publish to include a comment from a Google spokesperson and an additional comment from Yelp’s General Counsel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Trending Products<\/strong>\n
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