The Texas state attorney general has overnight announced plans to sue Google on behalf of a coalition of US States, accusing the tech giant of using “monopolistic power to control pricing” in online advertising.
As we know, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is not the first politician to launch legal action against Google.
However, he has certainly delivered the best announcement video.
Posted on the Texas Attorney General office’s official Twitter, the video shows Paxton walking while old snippets of news presenters reporting on “Google”, “monopoly” and “anti-trust” play in the background.
Paxton then outlines a host of accusations against Google, including that Google uses its power to manipulate the market and destroy competition.
“It isn’t fair that Google can harm the web pages you visit and read,” he said. “And it isn’t fair that Google effectively eliminated its competition and crowned itself the head of online advertising.
“Let me put it this way, if the free market were a baseball game, Google positioned itself as the pitcher, the batter and the umpire.”
But the best part of the video no doubt comes at the end, when Paxton delivers this one-liner.
“I will continue to do my job whether Big Tech likes it or not. It’s time for them to learn the hard way that you do not mess with Texas.”
You can see the full video below.
#BREAKING: Texas takes the lead once more! Today, we’re filing a lawsuit against #Google for anticompetitive conduct.
This internet Goliath used its power to manipulate the market, destroy competition, and harm YOU, the consumer. Stay tuned… pic.twitter.com/fdEVEWQb0e
— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) December 16, 2020
Although this complaint against Google has been delivered in a slightly different style, it comes as the tech giant faces increased regulatory scrutiny around the world.
In October, the US Department of Justice filed antitrust charges focusing on the way in which Google negotiates deals with companies such as Apple to ensure dominance in the search space.
The UK government, meanwhile, has hinted at similar legal which could break up Google and Apple’s search engine deal, which sees Google pay around $US10 billion to be the default search engine on Safari.
In Australia, meanwhile, the government is currently finalising the News Media Bargaining code, which will see both Google and Facebook forced to pay local media companies for news content.
