Some Republicans are actually standing up to big tech.
Ohio AG Dave Yost announced he will be going to court against Google Search.
Yost said the goal of the lawsuit was to make Google a public utility so it can be regulated.
According to John Whitehead, the president of The Rutherford Institute, if Yost wins the case it will only apply to searches in Ohio and not the country as a whole.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced his team will be meeting Google Search in court in May of 2024. The Republican official is seeking to declare the search engine a common carrier in order to make them subject to state regulation.
Yost alleged in a press release about the case, “By manipulating search results to self-preference its own products, Google is tilting the playing field against consumers and against emerging competitors. It’s time to bring those unfair practices to an end.”
The lawsuit focuses on commerce issues, citing concerns about conflicts with anti-competition laws. Yost’s suit does not seek monetary damages.
In a press release, Yost said Google can no longer “use its dominance in search to squeeze out competitors of other services.”
Google uses its bias search to hurt its competition, according to Yost.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost obtained a first-of-its-kind court decision when a Delaware County judge refused to throw out the state’s self-preferencing lawsuit against Google Search, suggesting that the search-engine giant may be subject to common carrier laws.
AG Yost’s lawsuit, filed in June 2021, seeks legal declaration that Google Search is a common carrier – in other words, a business subject to government regulation and a duty to deal fairly.
Other courts have found that social media companies are not subject to common carrier regulation. But Google Search, as the world’s undisputed leader in search engines, is different.
“Google cannot use its dominance in search to squeeze out competitors of other services, like travel reservations, shopping and consumer reviews,” Yost said.
Yost is focused on correcting Google’s “self-preferencing,” through which Google intentionally manipulates search results to direct users to Google products even when other products top the results of a Google Search.
Ohio is the first state in the nation to bring such a lawsuit, asking the court to declare Google Search a common carrier, and as a result improve the ways the powerful search engine provides results to Ohioans.
Why aren’t all Republican AGs going after Google?
