Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed an anti-competition lawsuit Tuesday attempting to have a judge declare Google a public utility that should be subject to government regulation.
The civil lawsuit wants a court to designate the search engine giant a “common carrier.” It also wants Google to stop self-preferencing its products or platforms in search results. Yost argues that Ohio residents cannot make the best choices if they are not receiving all of the information.
“Google intentionally structures its Results Pages to prioritize Google products over organic search results,” the lawsuit states. “It does not allow competitors to have similar access, thereby violating its duties as a common carrier.”
“Google uses its dominance of internet search to steer Ohioans to Google’s own products — that's discriminatory and anti-competitive,” said Yost in a statement. “When you own the railroad or the electric company or the cellphone tower, you have to treat everyone the same and give everybody access."
A Google spokesperson said the lawsuit would curtail search results, harm small business, and has no basis in fact or law. The Internet company will “defend ourselves against it in court.”
This action is the second anti-competition lawsuit Yost, a Republican, has filed against Google. He and 37 other attorneys general filed a separate action in December.
