Yelp alleges that Google created or maintained a monopoly in local search services by favoring its own disadvantaged vertical markets over its competitors, which Yelp said harmed competition and reduced the quality of local search services. Yelp claims that the way Google directs users from its general search engine results page to its local vertical search should be considered illegal bundling of separate products to prevent competitors from achieving scale.
The company was emboldened to file a lawsuit against Google after the U.S. Department of Justice won an antitrust case against Google over alleged exclusionary practices in the distribution of search services. Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said new york times After the decision, “the antitrust winds shifted dramatically.” He previously told erahe was hesitant to file a lawsuit because it would require resources, and he believed it was the government’s job to enforce antitrust laws.
While U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta gave the government a win in its case against Google, he significantly narrowed the scope of the lawsuit in early proceedings. Mehta dismissed charges from a panel of state attorneys general that Google acted unfairly by designing its search results pages to reduce visibility on specialized search engines such as Yelp and TripAdvisor.
“Yelp’s claims are not new,” Google spokesman Peter Schottenfels said in a statement. “Similar claims were dismissed by the FTC several years ago and more recently by the judge in the Justice Department case. We are appealing other aspects of the decision cited by Yelp. Google will pursue enforcement action against Yelp’s baseless claims.” Strong defense.
Yelp said consumers are the ultimate losers from Google’s alleged anti-competitive behavior. “By preventing users from leaving Google, other vertical search services will be unable to reach customers, achieve scale, and create useful content,” Stoppelman wrote in a blog post. “The softening of the competitive landscape means Google has less incentive to invest in premium content that improves the consumer experience, and more incentive to showcase less relevant but still profitable results.”
Yelp says consumers are the ultimate losers from Google’s alleged anti-competitive behavior
According to Yelp, it also hurts advertisers because suppressing local search competition will cause more local advertisers to switch to Google. “So, according to the study, Google can charge higher fees from advertisers with few consequences,” Stoppelman wrote. “It’s worth noting that for much of the past decade, Google’s search ad revenue has grown 20% or more annually while still being able to grow its market share.”
