Indiana Attorney General’s Big Tech fight pays off with court victory over Google monopoly

Wednesday, August 7, 2024 at 6:05 PM

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.”

Thus declared a U.S. district court this week as it ruled in favor of plaintiffs — Indiana, 51 other states and territories, and the U.S. Department of Justice — who sued the Big Tech giant over its illegal monopolistic misconduct in connection with its search function and search text advertising.

In Indiana, Attorney General Todd Rokita and his team played a leading role in coordinating the efforts of the plaintiff states litigating with the U.S. Justice Department’s Antitrust Division against Google in this case.

“From day one, I have made clear that my office would not tolerate Big Tech riding roughshod over the rights and interests of everyday Hoosiers,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Once again, we are making good on this commitment. We are holding Google accountable for its illegal and unacceptable practices.”

The court’s decision finds that Google has used exclusive distribution agreements to limit competition for online search services, depriving users of innovative alternatives and enabling Google to charge supracompetitive prices for general search text ads relied upon by many businesses in Indiana and beyond.

Under Attorney General Rokita’s leadership, Indiana — which was one of 11 plaintiff states to join the federal government’s initial monopolization case against Google — continued its efforts to litigate this groundbreaking case from start to finish for the benefit of consumers.

“These companies are not permitted to preserve their market dominance through exclusionary tactics,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Rather, they must compete in the free market to maintain the favor of their customers.”