Montana AG Tim Fox Joins Lawsuit to Fight Google Monopoly

Montana Attorney General Tim Fox has joined in a civil antitrust lawsuit against Google along with 10 other states.

Fox explained why Montana joined in that lawsuit.

“Today, my office at the Montana Department of Justice, along with 10 other states and the United States Department of Justice filed an antitrust civil lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to prevent Google from unlawfully maintaining monopolies through anti competitive and exclusionary practices in the search and search advertising markets,” said Fox.

Fox said Google is using its global muscle to dominate the market in online search engines.

“Google is one of the wealthiest companies on the planet with value market value of in excess of $1 trillion,” he said. “Over time, we've discovered that they've been entering into exclusivity agreements that forbid pre installation of any competing search service on computers and mobile devices.”

Fox said the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was established to investigate powerful companies that abuse the free market system.

“We have recognized that as a nation for many, many years and the watchdogs for these anti competitive practices and antitrust violations are not the only the antitrust division of the US Department of Justice, but the individual attorneys general across our nation,” he said. “That's why I have come alongside the Department of Justice and our sister states to address these issues through this complaint filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia today.”

The complaint alleges that Google’s anticompetitive practices have had harmful effects on competition and consumers. In addition to Montana, other participating states include Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, and Texas.