United States of America: 38 states and territories filed lawsuit against Google over monopolisation of general search and advertising markets

On 17 December 2020, 38 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam filed a separate antitrust complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia under Case No. 20-cv-3715 (APM), State of Colorado et al. v. Google LLC, under Section 16 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 26, and Section 2 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 2. The complaint incorporated allegations from the federal action brought by the Department of Justice and 11 states on 20 October 2020 in Case No. 1:20-cv-3010 (D.D.C.), but extended the scope by identifying durable monopolies in three markets—general search services, general search text advertising, and general search advertising—and by adding claims concerning the existence of an advertiser-side market for general search advertising. It further alleged that Google engaged in exclusionary conduct by securing default search engine status on browsers and mobile devices through multi-billion-dollar revenue-sharing agreements, restricted interoperability of its proprietary advertising tool SA360 to disadvantage competitors such as Microsoft Bing, and suppressed specialised vertical providers in sectors including travel, restaurant reservations, and shopping. The plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief, including structural and equitable measures to reverse anticompetitive effects and restore competition, and moved the Court under Rule 42(a)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to consolidate their case with United States et al. v. Google LLC, Case No. 1:20-cv-3010 (D.D.C.), for pre-trial proceedings and trial.