Tennessee Attorney General speaks on multi-state lawsuit against Google

JACKSON, Tenn. — Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery, along with attorneys general from three other states, met virtually Thursday to discuss the antitrust lawsuit.

The suit was filed by more than three dozen states against the popular search engine, Google.

The attorneys general say the states’ complaint focuses on Google’s monopoly power in general search and advertising markets.

“We are filing a motion to request that our case be consolidated with the DOJ’s case and be litigated in tandem,” said Attorney General for the state of Colorado, Phil Weiser.

The attorneys general say the states’ suit goes beyond the one filed by the Justice Department by explaining how Google is accused of monopolizing ways consumers access general search engines.

“If a rival connected car or smartphone home system not controlled by Google were to grow popularity, it could sponsor or support rival search engines,” Weiser said.

The lawsuit states Google also allegedly favors advertising on its own platform by inflating its profits to the detriment of advertisers and consumers.

Google is also accused of depriving consumers of competition that could lead to greater choice, innovation, and better privacy protections.

“Your likes, your thinking, your shopping habits, your screen time, your web history, most of your information, even the changes in bio-metric pressure, getting in and out of your car, these are all tracked and accumulated by Google and sold out to advertisers in some form or fashion,” Slatery said.

In the suit, the attorneys general are asking the court to halt Google’s illegal conduct and restore a competitive marketplace.

Finally, the states are also seeking to reverse any advantages that Google gained as a result of its anti-competitive conduct.

The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It also seeks to combine the states’ case with the pending U.S. Department of Justice case.