Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has filed a lawsuit asking the court to declare Google a public utility, which would subject the Masters of the Universe to government regulation.
The Hill reports that Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) on Tuesday filed a lawsuit asking the court to declare tech giant Google a public utility. If Google is declared a public utility, the company would become subject to government regulation.
Yost’s complaint was filed in Delaware County Court and alleges that the Silicon Valley titan has used its dominance as a search engine to prioritize its own products and services over “organic search results” in a way that “intentionally disadvantages competitors.”
Yost said in a statement: “Google uses its dominance of internet search to steer Ohioans to Google’s own products–that’s discriminatory and anti-competitive. When you own the railroad or the electric company or the cellphone tower, you have to treat everyone the same and give everybody access.”
The complaint alleges that because of the company’s “self-preferencing Results-page architecture,” almost two-thirds of Google searches in 2020 were complete without users leaving Google-owned platforms. This means that users never left the search page or found the answers they were looking for on another Google platform such as YouTube, Google Flights, Google Maps, Google News, Google Shopping, or Google Travel.
A company spokesperson commented on the lawsuit stated that it would “make Google Search results worse and make it harder for small businesses to connect directly with customers.” The spokesperson added: “Ohioans simply don’t want the government to run Google like a gas or electric company. This lawsuit has no basis in fact or law and we’ll defend ourselves against it in court.”
Yost is among 37 bipartisan attorneys general that filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google in December focused on the tech giant’s online search market power.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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