Watchdog: DOJ Antitrust Case Against Google is Flawed, Politically Charged

For Immediate Release
October 20, 2020
Contact: Grace Morgan
(202-855-4380)

Washington, D.C. – The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA)is responding to reports indicating the Department of Justice (DOJ) is filing its long-awaited antitrust case against Alphabet (Google) this week.

TPA Vice President of Policy Patrick Hedger offered the following statement:

“If the reported details of the DOJ’s case against Google are true, one thing is clear: this is a political hit job masquerading as a flimsy antitrust suit. It is reported that Attorney General Barr rushed to file this case before the election and the inherent flaws in DOJ’s reported arguments support that assertion. Painting Google as a ‘monopoly’ is nonsensical because the company faces stiff competition and is losing market share in search, advertising, and hardware sales to companies like Amazon, Facebook, and Apple.  

“The DOJ will also reportedly allege that Google’s business practices have resulted in higher prices for advertising, Google’s core business. This puts DOJ’s attorneys in the unenviable position of trying to prove a counterfactualargument because the facts are that digital advertising prices have collapsed. The veneer here is painfully thin and the motivation is obvious. Republicans should abandon this latest attempt of political retribution against big tech and not set a catastrophic precedent for this kind of abuse under future Democratic administrations.”

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