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Yelp vs. Google: The antitrust battle over local search dominance

Yelp accuses Google of unfair practices in local search, alleging anti-competitive behavior, highlighting ongoing competition issues in the digital market.

Scott Ertz
Published Sep 1, 2024 1:41 pm

Yelp has filed suit against Google once again, this time claiming that the company has continually abused its market position to dominate the locals market. This is not the first time the companies have fought in court over local data and search results, but this one appears to be looking to harm Google's trust more than getting them to stop stealing data.

Why has Yelp sued Google this time?

Yelp recently filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of abusing its dominance in the local search and advertising markets. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco on August 28, 2024, alleges that Google has been engaging in illegal self-preferencing practices. This means that Google is accused of favoring its own services and products in search results, thereby stifling competition and harming consumers. Yelp argues that these practices have significantly impacted its business and the broader market for local search services.

Yelp's CEO Jeremy Stoppelman described the lawsuit in a post on the company's website, saying,

Abandoning its stated mission to deliver the best information to users, Google has illegally abused its monopoly in general search to dominate the local search and local search advertising markets -- engaging in anticompetitive conduct that has degraded the quality of search results and demoted rivals to grow its market power.

Yelp and Google have battled before

In 2009, Yelp sued Google claiming that the company was using its market dominance to allow it to steal content. The claim was around Google's local search results, just like this suit. However, the previous suit was because Google was taking Yelp's content and displaying it in its Local search results, but without any attribution.

If you weren't around for this, Google would show reviews for local businesses attached to their location-based results. these reviews were pulled from several sources, with Yelp being the primary source. The issue was that Google did not give attribution to the source of the review, nor did they link back to the original review within context. This meant that potential customers couldn't verify that the reviews were actually for the business in question, and Yelp was losing visitors and ad revenue. In the end, Google shut down its local search product and started over with Google Maps with business profiles.

Google's global legal troubles

The lawsuit comes at a time when Google is already under scrutiny for its monopolistic practices in various markets. Google has been at the center of numerous global antitrust issues, facing significant scrutiny from regulatory bodies in both the United States and the European Union.

In the U.S., the Department of Justice filed a landmark antitrust lawsuit against Google in 2020, accusing the company of monopolizing the search and search advertising markets. This case, which went to trial in September 2023, alleges that Google used its dominant position to stifle competition and maintain its monopoly by engaging in exclusionary practices. The outcome of this trial could have far-reaching implications for the tech industry, potentially leading to stricter regulations and changes in how Google operates its core services.

In Europe, Google has faced multiple antitrust investigations and fines over the past decade. The European Commission has issued several rulings against Google, including a record €4.34 billion fine in 2018 for abusing its dominance with the Android operating system. Other cases have involved Google's practices related to its shopping service and online advertising platform, AdSense. These actions reflect ongoing concerns about Google's influence over digital markets and its impact on competition. As a result, Google continues to be under intense regulatory scrutiny worldwide, with potential new regulations and legal challenges on the horizon.

Yelp's legal action highlights the ongoing concerns about Google's influence over internet search and its potential to unfairly disadvantage competitors. If successful, this lawsuit could lead to significant changes in how Google operates its search and advertising services, potentially opening up more opportunities for competitors like Yelp. The outcome of this case will be closely watched by industry stakeholders and could have far-reaching implications for the tech industry as a whole.

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