Yelp has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google in a federal court in San Francisco. The company claimed that Google is using its search engine monopoly to unfairly dominate the local search and local search advertising markets.

“Today, Yelp filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google in federal court in San Francisco. Our case is about Google, the largest information gatekeeper in existence, putting its heavy thumb on the scale to stifle competition and keep consumers within its own walled garden,” Yelp’s CEO, Jeremy Stoppelman, wrote in a blog post.

This lawsuit follows a recent ruling in which a federal judge declared Google to hold a monopoly in the search and advertising markets. The U.S. Department of Justice is now considering breaking up Google and separating its Chrome browser or the Android operating system as potential remedies for its antitrust violation.

What Yelp is saying about Google's search monopoly 

Yelp is accusing Google of promoting its local search product over competitors' offerings. The company claimed this action degrades search quality and limits consumer choice by keeping users within Google's ecosystem. 

“Google has long been the dominant “gatekeeper” in general search, with approximately 90% share of the market.” The recent U.S. ruling discovered that Google has spent billions to maintain its default search status on devices like iPhones and Samsung, and browsers such as Firefox. 

When consumers search locally on Google, the platform prioritizes its local search results over that of its competitors and removes its properties from the “ranking system it uses for other sites, ” Yelp claimed.

Yelp also pointed to Google’s year-over-year growth in search advertising revenue. It claimed this increase comes at the expense of competition and consumer choice.

The company said that Google’s practices divert traffic and advertising revenue from rivals, making it difficult for competitors to grow. When competitors struggle to scale because of Google’s self-preferencing, it impacts advertisers by reducing competition in local search advertising. 

This allows Google to charge more for advertising services without fear of losing clients to alternative search platforms.

Google’s response to Yelp’s allegation

As reported by the Washington Post, Google dismissed Yelp’s claims. Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels stated, “Yelp’s claims are not new. Google will vigorously defend against Yelp’s meritless claims.”