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The U.S. Justice Department has filed an antitrust lawsuit against the tech giant for unfair competitive practices. Google is accused of allegedly using strong-arm tactics to maintain their monopoly as the leading search engine. The lawsuit describes in detail how the Alphabet Inc. subsidiary used its massive capital to engage in unlawful practices that would force business associates such as Apple, LG, Motorola, and Samsung into binding agreements that prevented them from doing business with Google's competitors.
In a public statement, Google's chief legal officer Kent Walker denounced the legal action as "deeply flawed," adding that "People use Google because they choose to -- not because they're forced to or because they can't find alternatives. Like countless other businesses, we pay to promote our services, just like a cereal brand might pay a supermarket to stock its products at the end of a row or on a shelf at eye level."
Google, who is being actively investigated by nearly all state attorneys in the nation, faces a long legal battle that could potentially end-up costing the tech company billions of dollars in legal fees and a possible unfavorable ruling that would include an order to dismantle its alleged monopoly by forcing it to sell some of its major holdings, like YouTube and Google Adds.