Yelp files antitrust lawsuit against Google over search & marketing manipulation

It would appear that Yelp is set to take Google to court over alleged anticompetitive and anti-consumer practices. The popular business rating website has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, claiming that the company uses its vast influence to artificially alter search results and search results marketing. Yelp makes the claim that Google holds a monopoly over information distribution on the Internet.

The Yelp company shared an announcement of its antitrust lawsuit against Google via a social media post, and in an official statement on its website. In the statement, Yelp more thoroughly lays out its grievances against Google and the purpose of the lawsuit:

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 has long fought to make Google’s local search experience more helpful for consumers and create a level playing field for competing vertical search services. With our action, we aim to safeguard competition, protect consumer choice, recover damages, and prevent Google from engaging in anticompetitive practices so that innovation may flourish.

Yelp goes on to bring up previous legal activity that Google has faced in relation to its alleged monopoly on web search results: