<https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/oct/20/us-justice-department-ant...> US justice department sues Google over accusation of illegal monopoly Lawsuit accuses tech company of abusing its position to dominate search and search advertising Dominic Rushe in New York and Kari Paul in San Francisco Tue 20 Oct 2020 15.55 BST First published on Tue 20 Oct 2020 14.15 BST Google dominates online search in the US, accounting for about 80% of search queries. The US justice department filed a lawsuit against Google on Tuesday, accusing the tech company of abusing its position to maintain an illegal monopoly over search and search advertising. “Two decades ago, Google became the darling of Silicon Valley as a scrappy startup with an innovative way to search the emerging internet. That Google is long gone,” the suit alleged. Today Google is a “monopoly gatekeeper for the internet” that has used “pernicious” anticompetitive tactics to maintain and extend its monopolies. The antitrust suit is the most significant legal challenge to a major tech company in decades and comes as US authorities are increasingly critical of the business practices of the major tech companies. The long-awaited case, filed in Washington DC, alleges that Google unfairly acts as a gatekeeper to the web through a series of business agreements that effectively lock out competition. [...]