Yelp has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, accusing it of exploiting its dominant market position to stifle competition and boost its profits in local search markets. The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in federal court in the Northern District of California, marks the latest in a series of legal challenges Google faces over its business practices.
Yelp's lawsuit centers on allegations that Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., has used its monopoly in general search to dominate local search and local search advertising markets. According to Yelp, Google’s practices unfairly promote its own products over those of competitors, effectively forcing businesses to pay Google to reach customers. This, Yelp argues, starves competitors of the traffic and revenue necessary to compete effectively in the marketplace.
The complaint accuses Google of self-preferencing—favoring its own services in search results—thereby limiting consumer choice and undermining the ability of other companies to operate in the local search market. Yelp’s lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages and a declaratory judgment that Google’s actions violate U.S. antitrust laws.
A declaratory judgment is a legal determination made by a court that resolves legal uncertainty for the parties involved. Unlike other types of judgments, which may require one party to pay damages or perform a specific action, a declaratory judgment simply clarifies the legal rights and obligations of the parties under existing law. It is often sought when there is a dispute or uncertainty about the interpretation of a law, contract, or other legal matter, and the parties want a definitive ruling to guide their actions.
Yelp is seeking a declaratory judgment as part of its legal strategy. Specifically, Yelp wants the court to officially declare that Google's conduct in the local search and local search advertising markets violates U.S. antitrust laws. This type of judgment would provide Yelp, other competitors, and the public with a clear legal determination that Google’s actions are unlawful without necessarily requiring Google to pay damages or change its business practices immediately.
The lawsuit follows a recent ruling by Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which found that Google engaged in illegal practices to maintain its search engine monopoly. That ruling stems from a 2020 lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, opening the door to further legal challenges against the tech giant.
The tension between Yelp and Google dates back over a decade, with the two companies clashing over business practices and market positioning. Notably, in 2009, Yelp walked away from a nearly finalized deal to be acquired by Google for more than half a billion dollars, signaling the start of a protracted and contentious relationship.
Yelp’s CEO, Jeremy Stoppelman, stated on the company’s website: “Google should not be both the monopoly provider of general search results and the self-preferencing curator of its own local search content. That’s the equivalent of being both the judge and a competitor in the same Olympic event.”
Yelp's lawsuit builds on the foundation laid by the DOJ's case, asserting that Google’s actions have long hampered Yelp’s ability to compete. The lawsuit claims that Google leveraged Yelp's data to develop its own competing services, which siphoned users away from Yelp and increased Google's profits at Yelp’s expense.
In response to the lawsuit, a Google spokesperson dismissed Yelp’s claims as old and unfounded. “Yelp’s claims are not new,” the spokesperson said, noting that similar allegations were previously rejected by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and more recently by the judge in the DOJ’s case. Google has vowed to defend itself vigorously and is appealing aspects of the DOJ ruling that Yelp references in its lawsuit.
