[imagesource:here]

In November last year, Google was dealing with some seriously bad PR.

Once the template for positive ‘company culture’, cracks started to appear in the facade and it had to come to terms with the fact that there aren’t enough office slides and beanbags in the world to make up for bad business practices.

In November the previous year, employees staged a massive global walkout to protest ‘forced arbitration policies’ and Google’s handling of sexual harassment more broadly.

As we edge towards November 2020, Google is, once again, in trouble, only this time it isn’t disgruntled employees taking it on, but rather the American government.

Following a 14-month investigation, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a landmark lawsuit on Tuesday, arguing that the company is using unfair practices to maintain its search and advertising monopoly, says Vox.

“Two decades ago, Google became the darling of Silicon Valley as a scrappy startup with an innovative way to search the emerging internet,” states the suit.

“That Google is long gone. The Google of today is a monopoly gatekeeper for the internet.”

For context – nearly 90% of all internet searches happen through Google.

The DOJ claims Google holds 88% of the US search market, with 94% of mobile searches occurring on its services.

Here’s a visual to give you an idea of just how much of the market it dominates:

Image: Statcounter

In a press briefing, Justice Department officials said the government is taking a stand to protect the free market, and ensure a fair playing field for competitors.

“If the government does not enforce the antitrust laws to enable competition, we could lose the next wave of innovation,” Justice Department spokesperson Marc Raimondi said in a press briefing.

“If that happens, Americans may never get to see the next Google.”

I’m pretty sure that was Google’s plan.

Per the case files, the lawsuit seeks to address the alleged harm that the company is perpetuating against American consumers who are forced to accept Google as their only option despite its dodgy privacy policies; advertisers who have to pay to reach consumers; and competing tech companies confined to the shadows because there’s no way they can go up against the tech giant.

The Justice Department’s suit poses a potential existential threat to Google’s business if it results in breaking off Google’s search engine — which accounted for about $21 billion last quarter, or more than half of its total revenue — from its other lines of business, such as cloud computing and video.

Obviously Google isn’t too pleased.

“Today’s lawsuit by the Department of Justice is deeply flawed,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. “People use Google because they choose to — not because they’re forced to or because they can’t find alternatives.”

If you’d like a more detailed breakdown of the lawsuit, head here.

If the pattern is anything to go on, and if I was a top dog at Google, I’d dread the period between October and January every year.

[source:vox]