• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

The rise of 'conspicuous waiting': The 19th-century economic theory that explains why Gen Z posts their place in line

2

Tim Cook signed off on his final Apple earnings call with a warning about a ‘100-year flood’ in memory chip pricing

3

Millennials say they’ll refuse to care for aging boomer parents—but they’ll be forced to as their inheritance shrinks to 40 cents on the dollar

1

The rise of 'conspicuous waiting': The 19th-century economic theory that explains why Gen Z posts their place in line

2

Tim Cook signed off on his final Apple earnings call with a warning about a ‘100-year flood’ in memory chip pricing

3

Millennials say they’ll refuse to care for aging boomer parents—but they’ll be forced to as their inheritance shrinks to 40 cents on the dollar
TechGoogle

Google says it isn’t a dangerous monopoly. Here are its 4 key arguments

By
Danielle Abril
Danielle Abril
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Danielle Abril
Danielle Abril
Down Arrow Button Icon
October 20, 2020, 4:43 PM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Google says the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit, though big on accusations, falls well short of proving the company is a harmful monopoly.

“Today’s lawsuit by the Department of Justice is deeply flawed,” Kent Walker, Google’s chief legal officer, wrote in a blog post on Tuesday just after the lawsuit was filed in a Washington, D.C., federal court. “People use Google because they choose to, not because they’re forced to, or because they can’t find alternatives.”

The lawsuit, a result of a yearlong federal investigation, accuses Google of crushing competition through exclusive agreements with mobile carriers and device makers including Apple that make Google their default search engine. As a result, Google dominates digital ads, accounting for nearly 70% of ads purchased on search, making it nearly impossible for others to compete, the lawsuit says.

While the government did not spell out how Google’s business should be curtailed, it did call for “structural relief,” which could mean anything from breaking up Google’s business to canceling some of its current deals.

Google voiced confidence that it will prevail against the lawsuit. Here are the company’s arguments in its defense.

Google has plenty of competition

Countering accusations that it controls search, Google said that Internet users rely on a number of apps, not just Google, to find information. For example, consumers may search Expedia for flights, use Twitter to scan for news, and browse Amazon for whatever they want to buy, a company spokesperson said. 

The company pointed out a decade-old conclusion from the Federal Trade Commission saying that Google’s competitors aren’t necessarily limited to general search engines. And the number of players providing those services has only grown since then, Google said. 

The lawsuit doesn’t show consumer harm

Key to any antitrust case is that the targeted company has used its dominance to harm consumers. But Google said that the DOJ failed to point to anything specific that would prove consumers are negatively impacted by Google.

Because Google Search is free, the government can’t claim that consumers must pay higher prices owing to Google’s deals. So instead, the DOJ suggested that consumers were worse off because of Google’s dominance, which hampered companies from creating even better services and kept smaller players out of the market.

Rather than harming consumers, Google said its services and deals benefit consumers by connecting them to high-quality search. It also said that the deals it has with companies like Apple do not exclude competitors from bidding for their own deals with the companies.

Google likened its agreements to be a default search engine with companies like Apple to Coca-Cola buying prime shelf space at grocery store checkout counters. Consumers can still find products elsewhere in supermarkets, and other companies can negotiate for that space as well, Google said. 

Furthermore, Google insisted that the FTC has already evaluated Google’s search agreements. But now, Google said, the DOJ is unnecessarily calling that decision into question.  

Consumers can easily download rivals

Nothing is stopping consumers from downloading rival search engines to connect them to information on their mobile devices and changing the default search, Google said. 

The company pointed to several popular apps like Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, and Uber that have been successful without being preloaded onto phones and tablets. Consumers are smart enough to download the apps they want, regardless of what device makers provide as defaults, Google said. 

Google also pointed to Yahoo’s agreement in 2014 to become the default search engine in Mozilla’s Firefox browser. Google said consumers who wanted to use Firefox with Google as their default search engine merely had to change their settings.  

Ad competition is fierce 

Google denied the government’s assertion that it dominates digital advertising. In fact, Google said it has stiff competition.

The company’s major rivals in digital ads, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple, continue to grow their ad businesses—a sign Google isn’t shutting out competitors. Meanwhile marketers can also use smaller digital services like Pinterest, Autotrader, and TripAdvisor, Google said, though they’ll likely get much smaller returns on their spending than on Google.

In short, marketers can get clicks on their ads and traffic to their sites from more sources than just Google, the company argues. 

More must-read tech coverage from Fortune:

  • Ousted Pinterest exec says more transparency needed to fight Silicon Valley pay discrimination
  • The polls are wrong. The U.S. presidential race is a near dead heat, this A.I. “sentiment analysis” tool says
  • Everything to know about Apple’s first 5G iPhones
  • Facebook A.I. researchers push for a breakthrough in renewable energy storage
  • Zoom’s newest feature will provide a marketplace for virtual events and services
About the Author
By Danielle Abril
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Tech

LinkedIn adds a ‘seems like AI slop’ button after blocking billions of automated comment attempts in the last few months
CybersecurityLinkedIn
LinkedIn adds a ‘seems like AI slop’ button after blocking billions of automated comment attempts in the last few months
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 31, 2026
5 hours ago
Y Combinator‑backed AI startup is under fire after its founder offered instant interviews to partygoers who got company tattoos, then apologized
Startups & VentureTech
Y Combinator‑backed AI startup is under fire after its founder offered instant interviews to partygoers who got company tattoos, then apologized
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 31, 2026
7 hours ago
Studio portrait of Leopold Aschenbrenner
Startups & VentureHedge Funds
The power couple of AI is getting married in Carmel, days after groom Leopold Aschenbrenner’s hedge fund nearly blew up
By Eva RoytburgJuly 31, 2026
7 hours ago
European nations have won more than half of all World Cups. Now they’re threatening to boycott the next one
Startups & VentureSports
European nations have won more than half of all World Cups. Now they’re threatening to boycott the next one
By Catherina GioinoJuly 31, 2026
7 hours ago
var
AIWorld Cup
The World Cup’s VAR fights are a preview of every company’s AI rollout problem
By Pooya Tabesh and The ConversationJuly 31, 2026
11 hours ago
After a nearly 1,000% surge, the AI debt orgy can’t last forever, while hidden borrowing has exploded to $1.65 trillion
Big TechDebt
After a nearly 1,000% surge, the AI debt orgy can’t last forever, while hidden borrowing has exploded to $1.65 trillion
By Jason MaJuly 31, 2026
11 hours ago

Most Popular

The rise of 'conspicuous waiting': The 19th-century economic theory that explains why Gen Z posts their place in line
Retail
The rise of 'conspicuous waiting': The 19th-century economic theory that explains why Gen Z posts their place in line
By Tatiana SatauaJuly 31, 2026
21 hours ago
Tim Cook signed off on his final Apple earnings call with a warning about a ‘100-year flood’ in memory chip pricing
Big Tech
Tim Cook signed off on his final Apple earnings call with a warning about a ‘100-year flood’ in memory chip pricing
By Alexei OreskovicJuly 30, 2026
1 day ago
Millennials say they’ll refuse to care for aging boomer parents—but they’ll be forced to as their inheritance shrinks to 40 cents on the dollar
Personal Finance
Millennials say they’ll refuse to care for aging boomer parents—but they’ll be forced to as their inheritance shrinks to 40 cents on the dollar
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 31, 2026
21 hours ago
He worked 100-hour weeks to save a nearly bankrupt boat company. At 83, he’s just turned down $400 million for it—and gave it all to charity instead
Success
He worked 100-hour weeks to save a nearly bankrupt boat company. At 83, he’s just turned down $400 million for it—and gave it all to charity instead
By Preston ForeJuly 29, 2026
2 days ago
Costco's $14 million email settlement: Who qualifies for an up-to $500 payment and how to claim before the Aug. 24 deadline
Retail
Costco's $14 million email settlement: Who qualifies for an up-to $500 payment and how to claim before the Aug. 24 deadline
By Sydney LakeJuly 29, 2026
3 days ago
The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'
Real Estate
The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 25, 2026
7 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.