KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Business review site Yelp sued Alphabet’s Google in a San Francisco federal court, claiming the search giant uses its dominance to steer users to its own content.
- Yelp is seeking an order for Google to stop practices it says are anticompetitive, as well as unspecified monetary damages.
- The move comes just weeks after a federal judge ruled that Google violated antitrust laws by maintaining an illegal monopoly in search, a ruling the tech giant is appealing.
- Google said Yelp’s claims aren’t new and it will defend against the claims.
Business review site Yelp (YELP) sued Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL) in a San Francisco federal court, claiming the search giant uses its dominance to steer users to its own content.
“Google—a multitrillion-dollar company and confirmed monopolist—abuses its unlawfully maintained dominance in general internet search to steer users to its own inferior content to pad its massive revenues,” Yelp said in the suit.
“Yelp’s claims are not new. Similar claims were thrown out years ago by the FTC, and recently by the judge in the DOJ’s case. On the other aspects of the decision to which Yelp refers, we are appealing. Google will vigorously defend against Yelp’s meritless claims,” a Google spokesperson said.
Yelps Seeks Monetary Damages
Yelp is seeking an order for Google to stop practices it says are anticompetitive, as well as unspecified monetary damages.
The move comes just weeks after a federal judge ruled that Google violated antitrust laws by maintaining an illegal monopoly in search, a ruling the tech giant is appealing.
Shares of Google parent Alphabet were up 1.4% in Thursday afternoon trading, while Yelp gained 2.2%. Yelp shares have lost about one-quarter of their value since the start of the year, while Alphabet shares climbed 18% over the same period.