The American Justice Department will commence its legal proceedings against Google’s parent company Alphabet.

The justice department is accusing Alphabet of what it claims is unfair competition in the search engine market.

The case was filed in early 2023 citing 15 years of anticompetitive behaviour.

-US calls out Alphabet-

Nevertheless, the state goes on to further accuse Google’s parent company of collusion to achieve an unfair advantage.

According to the Justice Department, Google worked with top companies to ensure it was the default search browser on mobile devices.

In addition, according to government estimates and research, Google controls a 90% market share on search engines.

In the government’s view, Google’s unfair advantage has stifled choice for consumers and hampered innovation and growth.

-Alphabet fires back-

Google’s parent company maintains that it did not violate any antitrust laws and that its agreements were within legal frameworks.

The parent company further highlights that it did not stop any company from developing and pushing its own search engines.

In a twist of events, Google’s parent company lays the blame on phone manufacturers for setting Google as the default browser on their devices.

Alphabet is keen to highlight that they do not have influence over how other firms use their product, something the justice department seems to be insinuating.

-If Alphabet loses-

In the event Alphabet loses the case against the Justice Department, it will not pay any fines or a charge due to its competitive advantage.

However, the department is going after Alphabet splitting its company to avoid a monopoly in the industry.

Consequently, Alphabet breaking up Google and other factions of its business might seem detrimental to its overall financial health.

-Unfair competition lawsuits-

This is not the first high-stakes tech industry case the Department of Justice has pursued.

Previously, in 1998 the department sued Microsoft over its unfair competition on default browser settings against Netscape Navigator.

However, Microsoft settled with the department and the company was left in one piece.

In brief, with court proceedings starting on the 11th, of September 2023, the ruling scheduled for 2024 might shift the global tech terrain as we know it.