Rumble, a competitor of YouTube, has just started actions against Google for abuse of dominant position. The company is asking for $ 2 billion in damages.
Google has already faced penalties for promoting its services within its own search engine. With more than 90% market share worldwide, the company is obviously subject to competition laws. But the case is not so simple, here, the plaintiff, the Canadian company Rumble, also considers that Google is guilty of a form of censorship.
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Google, again accused of monopoly
Toronto-based video platform
Rumble has filed a lawsuit in California, accusing Google of
manipulating its algorithm to showcase content from YouTube to the
detriment of content from other video services.
While the
European Commission recently forced Google to set up a screen allowing
users to choose their search engine on their Android smartphones,
Rumble's complaint is now aimed at installing the YouTube app by
default.
'With its search engine, Google diverted massive traffic to YouTube, to the detriment of Rumble, which could also have benefited from users, uploading, branding and revenue.'
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An underlying censorship story
While this week is marked by the
suspension of the accounts of outgoing US President Donald Trump on
social networks, as well as by the unexpected closure by Amazon of the
Parler network, Rumble in turn points to a bias on the part of Google.
Note
that the platform benefited in particular from an advertisement by
Republican Devin Nunes, joined by several conservatives. According to
Business Insider, which reports the case, Rumble now has a base of 2
million users. His most viewed clips include Dan Bongino, commentator
for the Conservative Party as well as Sean Hannity, a Fox News
presenter, supporting the American political right. Remember, moreover,
that in the United States, the Republicans often do not see a very good
eye the large companies of Silicon Valley, which sometimes publicly
display their progressive policies.
Rumble explains for his part
that the videos of his platform are continuously relegated to the bottom
of the list in Google search results, without justification. The
plaintiff therefore seeks 2 billion in damages. The complaint comes just
hours after Parler decided to take Amazon to court.
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