Demand Progress

Google is a monopoly, plain and simple.

The company controls 95% of online search results and is worth an incomprehensible $1.65 trillion. Google has used aggressive strategies to force any potential rivals out of the market. Without any competition, its services get worse every year.¹

Demand Progress activists have been calling on the U.S. government to break up this behemoth for YEARS, and now it could finally happen.

Next month, the Department of Justice (DOJ) will bring Google before a federal court for a landmark trial that could break the company’s stranglehold on the internet.¹ It’s vital that we support the DOJ effort.

The Google trial is set to begin on September 12 and could be the most significant antitrust case this century. Its outcome will set a far-reaching precedent for how we’re able to check big tech’s power.

Google achieved their monopoly not by making a better product, but forcing its rivals out of the market. For example, it pays $45 billion a year to have distributors refuse to carry its competitor’s products, signing deals with companies like Apple, Verizon, and AT&T to ensure that Google is always the default search result²

The lack of competition is a disaster for anyone trying to use the internet. Google’s search engine has worsened over the past decade, with it now focusing more on delivering lucrative ads than useful information. Increasingly, search results point you back to the company’s own products like YouTube, where Google can show you more ads and gather more of your data.³

The DOJ’s lawsuit has the potential to finally cut Google down to size. But it won't be easy: the company is aggressively working to protect its monopoly, and has even been found to have destroyed evidence in past antitrust cases. We need to send a clear message that the people want to break up Big Tech.

Add your name: It’s time for the DOJ to rein in Big Tech – break up Google!

Thanks for taking action,

Joey and the team at Demand Progress

Sources:

1. Washington Post, “Judge clears way for DOJ’s antitrust case against Google to go to trial,” August 4, 2023.
2. The Big, “The First Big Antitrust Trial of the Century Is About to Start,” August 6, 2023.
3. Washington Post, “How does Google’s monopoly hurt you? Try these searches.,” October 20, 2020.