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Justice Department, State Attorneys General Likely to Bring Antitrust Lawsuits Against Google

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Published on: May 17, 2020

Google nearly destroyed this website. They scrubbed, blacklisted us from search results and terminated  my account all Google ad services and YouTube demonetized all of my videos. YouTube is owned by Google.

Facebook has blocked my news-feed. My twitter account is shadowbanned. I have been blocked from uploading videos to YouTube punishment for 2007 video on jihad (and YouTube demonetized all of my videos). Paypal suspended me until an outpouring of condemnation and outrage forced a reversal.

The US government has used anti-trust laws to break up monopolies. They ought to break up Facebook. Section 2 of the Sherman Act highlights particular results deemed anticompetitive by nature and prohibits actions that ‘shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations.’ Couldn’t the same be applied to information? The United States government took down Standard Oil, Alcoa, Northern Securities, the American Tobacco Company and many others without nearly the power that Google and Facebook have.

Google has blacklisted my links, disappeared my site, suspended me from Google AdSense and imposed similar totalitarian measures on my colleagues while working to snuff out its competition. Their search results are defamatory – elevating the most vicious libelous voices on the left.

Justice Department, State Attorneys General Likely to Bring Antitrust Lawsuits Against Google

Both the federal and state investigations are focused on Google’s ad business
In addition to looking at the social-media giant’s ad business, the Justice Department is focusing more broadly on how Google has used its search dominance.

By Wall Street Journal May 15, 2020 4:32 pm ET

WASHINGTON—Both the Justice Department and a group of state attorneys general are likely to file antitrust lawsuits against Alphabet Inc.’s Google—and are well into planning for litigation, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Justice Department is moving toward bringing a case as soon as this summer, some of the people said. At least some state attorneys general—led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican—are likely to file a case, probably in the fall, people familiar with the matter said.

Much of the states’ investigation has focused on Google’s online advertising business. The company owns the dominant tool at every link in the complex chain between online publishers and advertisers. The Justice Department likewise is making Google’s ad technology one of its points of emphasis. But it is also focusing more broadly on concerns that Google uses its dominant search business to stifle competition, people familiar with the matter said.

Details about the Justice Department’s legal theories for a case against Google couldn’t be learned.

Though the coronavirus pandemic has complicated work for the Justice Department, Attorney General William Barrhas devoted considerable resources to the Google probe and continues to treat it as a top priority. Mr. Barr told The Wall Street Journal in March that he wanted the Justice Department to make a final call this summer. “I’m hoping that we bring it to fruition early summer,” Mr. Barr said at the time. “And by fruition I mean, decision time.”

Mr. Paxton of Texas said the pandemic was not slowing the states’ efforts. “We’ve issued [civil subpoenas] to Google and impacted third parties. We hope to have the investigation wrapped up by fall,” Mr. Paxton said in a statement. “If we determine that filing is merited we will go to court soon after that.”

“We continue to engage with the ongoing investigations led by the Department of Justice and Attorney General Paxton, and we don’t have any updates or comments on speculation. Our focus is firmly on providing services that help consumers, support thousands of businesses and enable increased choice and competition,” a Google spokeswoman said.

The federal government has shared information it has received from Google with Texas and the other states, some people familiar with the matter said.

The department continues to gather information in its probe and all signs point toward it bringing a case, the people said, but both the federal and state investigations are ongoing and no final decisions have been made. Investigations at times can be settled without litigation, though it’s unclear whether an agreement could be reached in the Google probes.

One unanswered question is whether the states will file their own complaint, or simply join in the federal case when it is filed. It’s even possible different groups of states will file separate complaints. Texas has been focused closely on ad tech issues, while some other states have been more interested in Google’s search function, for example, according to people familiar with the matter.

Article posted with permission from Pamela Geller

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