To comply with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Google is making a number of changes to Android, Chrome, and Search.
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In 2021, 36 US states and the District of Columbia sued Google over Play Store antitrust concerns. A settlement was reached in September and the terms, including changes to Google Play, have now been revealed.
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Google announced today how Android and the Play Store will change to comply with recent regulatory rulings in India.
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The US Department of Justice, along with eight other states, sued Google today, alleging antitrust practices in digital ads to “unwind Google’s monopolistic grip on the market.”
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The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Google has “proposed splitting parts of its business that auctions and places ads on websites and apps into a separate company under the Alphabet umbrella.”
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Following reports and rumors for several weeks, the US Justice Department has officially announced an antitrust lawsuit against Google and its search dominance in the United States. The suit is supported by 11 States.
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According to the New York Times, the US Justice Department is planning to file the federal government’s antitrust case against Google as soon as this month. Today’s report notably reveals a rushed approach that’s criticized for being political.
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For the past several months, both the Department of Justice and state attorneys general have been readying antitrust investigations into Google. A new report today says that the US states are looking to break up Google’s ad division.
Last September, federal and state governments announced an antitrust investigation into Google. A new report today says that the US Department of Justice and state attorneys general are likely to proceed with a lawsuit in the coming months.
In recent years, Silicon Valley and Big Tech has been under increasing antitrust scrutiny. An investigation by state attorneys general into Google’s market power could be announced as soon as next week.
Big Tech is due for meaningful regulation in the United States from both sides of the political aisle. On the Democratic one, several presidential candidates — most notably Elizabeth Warren — have laid out plans on how they would break up companies. Interviews with Googlers reveal that some support regulatory action.
The criticism of Big Tech has been a long-time coming, and today it emerged as a likely talking and policy point during the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren and current Senator has just proposed to break up Google, alongside Amazon and Facebook.
Google could face a massive fine of up to $11B when a ruling is reached on a long-running European antitrust investigation into Android – with potentially even worse news for the company.
A decision is reportedly expected to be made sometime in July …
The $2.7 billion fine Europe levied against Google last week over its Shopping product was quite significant. However, that is the least of Google’s troubles as they face another record fine over perceived antitrust aspects of Android. The latest move sees the EU setting up another panel of experts to provide a second opinion on the ongoing case.
The European Union has already filed two sets of antitrust charges against Google, the first accusing it of manipulating search results to favor its own products, the second alleging that Google forces Android device manufacturers to install its own apps and set Google search as the default.
Last summer, it was reported that the company may face a third antitrust case in Europe, this time for abusing its dominant position in advertising, and the WSJ reports that the EU is currently preparing to files these charges, possibly next month …
As previously rumored, in a press release published today, the EU has filed yet another antitrust movement against Google. This time it centers on Android, the company’s wildly successful mobile operating system, which the EU thinks is in breach of the continent’s antitrust rules. In short, the European Commission thinks Google is using Android to deliberately restrict other mobile operating systems, browsers and search engines.
The Financial Times reports that tight deadlines given to four lawyers suggest that the European Commission’s Android anti-trust case against Google could see formal charges finalized this week, possibly as early as Wednesday.
Google has won a UK court case filed against it by a European mapping company named Streetmap.EU, which claimed the search giant had been skewing results in its own favor. Streetmap will appeal the decision, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Google must wonder whether it will ever be free from antitrust investigations. Following antitrust charges against its search business (cleared in the USA, upheld in Europe), the EU filed a second complaint that Google had abused its dominant position in the mobile field to favor its own Android apps. The allegation is that Google forced smartphone companies to favor Google apps over rival ones in return for permission to use Android. Bloomberg reports that the U.S. appears to be opening a similar investigation in the USA.
The Federal Trade Commission reached an agreement with the Justice Department to spearhead an investigation of Google’s Android business, [two sources] said. FTC officials have met with technology company representatives who say Google gives priority to its own services on the Android platform …
It seems Google’s legal woes in Europe will never end. The European Commission has long been running an investigation into whether Google was guilty of anti-competitive behaviour in Europe, which finally resulted in a filing of charges in April and a warning of large fines in June. It may be next year – some six years after the investigation began – before the final ruling.
A second anti-trust investigation into Android followed, and a third one not long afterwards, this time into its web advertising business. As if all that weren’t enough, the NY Times reports that a US law firm and European public affairs company have created a joint venture to help companies file civil claims against Google in the event that the EC finds it guilty of the first set of charges …
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Just as one European antitrust case against Google reached its conclusion, with a second one underway, it may be facing a third, reports the Financial Times.
The first antitrust case found that Google abused its dominant position in search to promote its own products over that of competitors. with the company told to expect large fines. A second one is underway, to determine whether Google forced smartphone manufacturers to favor its own apps over competitor ones in return for permission to use Android.
The FT now reports that a number of companies selling online advertising have asked the European Commission to consider a third case, to investigate Google’s dominance of the web advertising business …
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Yahoo is currently including Google ads in some of its search results in what the company described to the NY Times as a “small test.” The ads were first spotted by SEO Book.
Yahoo confirmed on Wednesday that it has begun testing the use of Google search ads for a small portion of its desktop and mobile web search results. “As we work to create the absolute best experiences for Yahoo users, from time to time, we run small tests with a variety of partners including search providers,” the company said.
Google offered Yahoo an ad partnership all the way back in 2008, but pulled out after objections from the Department of Justice on antitrust grounds …
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