Yelp Sues Google Over Antitrust Violations

Yelp is the latest company to sue Google over Antitrust Violations**
8/29/24 (Yelp sues Google for antitrust violations)

Yelp has initiated an antitrust lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of monopolizing local search services by prioritizing its own less effective products over those of its competitors. The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of California, seeks to end Google’s allegedly anti-competitive practices, demands compensation for Yelp, and requests a jury trial.

Yelp’s CEO pointed to the Department of Justice’s recent victory in a similar antitrust case against Google as a key factor in their decision to pursue legal action, signaling a notable shift in the antitrust environment.

Yelp argues that consumers are the ones most harmed by Google’s allegedly anti-competitive practices. “By preventing users from leaving Google, other specialized search services are blocked from reaching customers, growing, and creating valuable content,” Yelp’s CEO Stoppelman explained in a blog post. “This weakening of competition reduces Google’s motivation to invest in high-quality content that would enhance the user experience, while increasing their incentive to prioritize less relevant but more profitable results.”

The company argues that this behavior also negatively impacts advertisers, as stifling competition in local search forces more local advertisers to rely on Google. As a result, Google can charge higher fees with minimal repercussions. Yelp’s CEO noted that Google has increased its search advertising revenue by over 20% annually for most of the past decade, all while expanding its market share.

Yelp is asking the court to require Google to cease its allegedly anti-competitive behavior and to award damages. The lawsuit, which demands a jury trial, was filed in the Northern District of California—the same jurisdiction where another jury previously found Google guilty of maintaining an illegal monopoly through its app store in the case against Epic Games.