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Wall Street Journal article goes moar in depth:
>https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-to-file-long-awaited-antitrust-suit-against-google-11603195203
The department alleged that Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., is maintaining its status as gatekeeper to the internet through an unlawful web of exclusionary and interlocking business agreements that shut out competitors. The government alleged that Google uses billions of dollars collected from advertisements on its platform to pay mobile-phone manufacturers, carriers and browsers, like Apple Inc.’s Safari, to maintain Google as their preset, default search engine.
The upshot is that Google has pole position in search on hundreds of millions of American devices, with little opportunity for any competitor to make inroads, the government alleged.
The lawsuit also took aim at arrangements in which Google’s search application is preloaded, and can’t be deleted, on mobile phones running its popular Android operating system. The government alleged Google unlawfully prohibits competitors’ search applications from being preloaded on phones under revenue-sharing arrangements.
A loss for Google could mean court-ordered changes to how it operates parts of its business, potentially creating new openings for rival companies. The Justice Department’s lawsuit didn’t specify particular remedies; that is usually addressed later in a case. One Justice Department official said nothing is off the table, including possibly seeking structural changes to Google’s business.
A victory for Google could deal a huge blow to Washington’s overall scrutiny of big tech companies, potentially hobbling other investigations and enshrining Google’s business model
The case could take years to resolve