Yelp Accuses Google of Monopolization and Harming Local Search Businesses

Local search company Yelp has filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of using its search engine monopoly to thwart competitors.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Aug. 28. The complaint was brought to “safeguard competition, protect consumer choice, recover damages, and prevent Google LLC from engaging in various anticompetitive practices designed to monopolize the markets for local search services and local search advertising,” according to the lawsuit.

Yelp focuses on public reviews of local neighborhood businesses, with the company making money by selling local search advertising. The lawsuit accuses Google of abusing its “monopoly power in general search” to divert traffic away from competitors to its own local search product.

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