DOJ Preparing Anti-Trust Lawsuit Against Google
Aligns With AG Barr Statement Yesterday
CTH has discussed the likelihood of DOJ action against Google previously. Yesterday AG Barr also mentioned in an interview with Senator Ted Cruz that he was likely to have the final DOJ investigation on his desk for a decision within the next few months.
Politico is reporting on some of the background DOJ activity which aligns with Bill Barr’s statements and our own research assembly.
WASHINGTON – Justice Department prosecutors expect to file an antitrust lawsuit against Google in the coming months focused on the company’s dominance in online advertising and search, two individuals familiar with the discussions said Friday.DOJ lawyers and state antitrust officials met online Friday and discussed contours of the expected complaint, according to the people, who weren’t authorized to speak on the record because the investigation is ongoing.
[…] The suit is expected to involve allegations that the search giant has monopolized the advertising technology market. It is also expected to include allegations that Google has taken steps to extend its monopoly over search, such as through contracts with Apple and cellphone makers who use the Android operating system that require it be the default search engine.The people cautioned that Attorney General William Barr, who did not attend the meeting, has yet to make a final decision on whether to sue, a judgment he could make in the coming weeks. The department would also need to decide what remedy it would seek, such as trying to break up the company or placing limits on its behavior. Whether the state attorneys general would also sign on to the DOJ complaint isn’t yet determined.
Anyone who has spent time on the internet already knows Google manipulates the internet based on their self-defined ideology. In August of 2019 a Google employee and whistleblower came forward with documentary evidence explaining how they do it.
Zachary Vorhies went public with the information in order to help people better understand the scope and scale of Google’s manipulative intent. [Link to Documents]
Among those documents is a file called “news black list site for google now.” The document is a “black list,” which restricts certain websites from appearing on an Android Google product. Not surprisingly CTH is listed on the black list.
On May 28, 2020, after President Trump signed an executive order targeting on-line censorship, CTH wrote a twitter thread about it. There has to be a breaking point where the FCC or DOJ steps in to address these issues, if our constitutional republic is to survive.
[Read Executive Order Here] – In the periphery of this executive action there are indications, and a widespread expectation, the DOJ is close to filing an antitrust lawsuit against Google Inc and their affiliated companies. There is a possibility the controlling ideology of ‘big tech’ is about to merge with legal action by the DOJ.
The DOJ action has not yet happened, but there are signals it is close. There have been visible signals, subtle but visible, the DOJ was/is about to move on a massive (the biggest in history) antitrust lawsuit against Google and all affiliates.
The issue will not necessarily surface as most would think; via a bias based on conservative -vs- leftist ideology in content manipulation; though those underlying aspects are a part of the larger underpinning we will soon see surface.Antitrust lawsuits, writ large, are based on “prices”, “costs”, and net “financial” distortions caused by corporations not competing based on open commerce. “Antitrust” in it’s structural form is based on costs and the manipulation of prices. Essentially, controlled commerce.
In the digital sphere the targeted firms have not opened themselves to liability based on ideology; but rather Google, all subsidiaries and alliances, have opened themselves to antitrust violations through the manipulation and control of financial benefit.
Demonitization of digital platform content providers, in combination with Google’s control of almost all ad revenue in the digital space, is what has opened the door for DOJ intervention based on antitrust laws…. But will they take action? That’s the question.
Antitrust intervention is warranted because the content being generated on these on-line, digital platforms, is being arbitrarily valued by the media company GoogleAds and not the free market. Devaluing certain content they are ideologically opposed to creates consumer distortions.
Underpinning that revenue control is the ideological nature of the control enforcer, in this example Google. However, for the purpose of antitrust lawsuits, that motive is irrelevant.
The methods, practices and purposeful control of value; through collusion of corporate interest specific to a planned and organized effort to control monetary benefit; is the part of their activity that is quantifiable, discoverable, easily provable, and ultimately unlawful.
The financial distortion of internet commerce is the crack in the Big Tech stranglehold that should afford the DOJ the opportunity to step in. Google (and all subsidiaries) will lose on the substance of their defense because ultimately their business practice has resulted in, and arguably they have engaged in, price fixing.
It will take time, but from an optimistic position if the DOJ take action eventually Google would be forced to settle a lawsuit. There could be a massive financial settlement in addition to a negotiated Consent Decree. Within the decree terms, we could even see a break-up.
Any antitrust action is only tangentially related to President Trump’s previous confrontation with Twitter and big tech social media based on ideological lines. However, it is easy to see how the two issues will merge. The monetary distortions are based on ideology.
As soon as the DOJ takes action Silicon Valley will hold an even larger self-interest in the 2020 election outcome; and they will respond accordingly.
This is definitely worth watching…
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