Yelp Sues Google For Harmful Competition

Yelp filed a lawsuit with Google (photo: dock. Yelp)

JAKARTA Yelp, the platform maker to review and assess businesses in the US, filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google. In his lawsuit, Yelp accused Google of using illegal means to attract users. The lawsuit was submitted to California's Northern District Court on Wednesday, August 28. Yelp said that Google has maintained its monopoly on its search engine service, namely Google Search. Google prioritizes vertical search platforms over competing services. Google's actions are considered detrimental to competition and quality of local search engine services like Yelp. According to Yelp, Google's actions in directing users to the vertical services of local searches from Google Search pages are illegal binding. The reason is, this binding can prevent competitors from reaching large scales. Therefore, Yelp demanded the court to stop this alleged anti-competitive action. Yelp also demands Google to compensate for its monopoly impact. The company dares to apply because the US Department of Justice (DOJ) won in the antitrust case which was also submitted to Google. Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, confirmed to the New York Times that his party had doubts when he wanted to file a lawsuit.

"An antitrust wind has changed dramatically (after the DOJ and Google cases)," said Stoppelman. The Yet leader doubts to file a lawsuit because the company needs to provide the resources needed and antitrust law enforcement is difficult. On the other hand, Google will not remain silent on the lawsuit. Reporting from The Verge's report, Google Spokesperson Peter Stttenfels, said that Yelp's lawsuit is nothing new, but Google will continue to defend itself. "Similar claims have been rejected a few years ago by the FTC and recently by the judge in the DOJ case. Regarding other aspects of the decision Yelp referred to, we appeal. Google will defend itself against Yelp's unsubstantiated claims," said Schttenfels.