Yelp, a long-standing critic of Google, has launched its own antitrust lawsuit against the tech giant. This move comes just weeks after a US federal judge declared Google an illegal monopolist in a separate case. Yelp’s lawsuit argues that Google has used its dominant position in local search services to unfairly favour its own offerings, which Yelp claims have harmed competition and degraded the quality of local search results.
Yelp challenges Google’s local search dominance
Yelp’s complaint centres on the claim that Google unfairly directs users to its own local search services from its main search engine results page. According to Yelp, this practice is a form of illegal tying. Google uses its control over general search to push its local search results, effectively shutting out rivals and preventing them from reaching a wider audience.
Yelp has requested the court to put a stop to these alleged anticompetitive practices and to award damages for the harm caused. The lawsuit has been filed in the Northern District of California, the same district where a jury recently found Google had engaged in monopolistic behaviour in a case involving its app store, brought forward by Epic Games.
This legal action by Yelp follows a recent victory for the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in its antitrust case against Google. The DOJ’s case accused Google of using exclusionary practices to dominate the distribution of search services. Inspired by this outcome, Yelp’s CEO, Jeremy Stoppelman, told The New York Times that “the winds on antitrust have shifted dramatically.” He explained that Yelp had previously hesitated to sue due to the substantial resources required and the belief that the government should enforce antitrust laws.
Google dismisses Yelp’s claims
Google has dismissed Yelp’s allegations, with a spokesperson stating that these claims are not new. “Similar claims were thrown out years ago by the FTC and more recently by the judge in the DOJ’s case,” said Peter Schottenfels, a Google spokesperson. “On the other aspects of the decision to which Yelp refers, we are appealing. Google will vigorously defend against Yelp’s meritless claims.”
US District Court Judge Amit Mehta, who presided over the DOJ’s case against Google, did indeed narrow the scope of that lawsuit. He dismissed some claims made by state attorneys general, which included allegations that Google had unfairly altered its search results to disadvantage specialised search engines like Yelp and TripAdvisor.
Impact on consumers and advertisers
Yelp argues that consumers are the real victims of Google’s alleged anticompetitive conduct. In a blog post, Stoppelman stated that by restricting user access to alternative local search services, Google reduces competition, which in turn discourages investment in higher-quality content. According to Yelp, this leads to users receiving less relevant search results that may nonetheless generate revenue for Google.
The company also claims that Google’s behaviour harms advertisers. By limiting competition in local search, more local advertisers are forced to use Google, which enables the tech giant to charge higher fees with little pushback. Stoppelman pointed out that Google has seen a 20% or more increase in search advertising revenue year-over-year for most of the last decade while continuing to grow its market share.
Yelp has long voiced its concerns about Google’s dominance. In 2020, a senior Yelp executive testified before the US Senate regarding the company’s antitrust grievances. Yelp has also filed a complaint with the European Union over Google’s alleged self-preferencing and has publicly supported government agencies pursuing antitrust charges against Google.
