Texas leads GOP states in monopoly lawsuit against Google

Texas is at it again.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — the leader of the lawsuit that attempted to reverse the 2020 election results — announced Wednesday he was leading coalition of Republican attorneys general in an antitrust lawsuit against Google. The suit, one of several antitrust actions taken against the tech giant, alleges Google has broken the law as it moved to secure its grasp on online advertising technology.

Google makes most of its money from advertising, including selling billions of ad spots on websites across the internet. And because Google had such a big hand in that market to begin with, it has been able to manipulate ad pricing to make more money and secure an even bigger hold on the market, the suit claims. "If the free market were a baseball game, Google positioned itself as the pitcher, the batter and the umpire," Paxton said in a video announcing the suit.

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As Politico reported Tuesday, a group of bipartisan attorneys general are also planning to launch an antitrust lawsuit against Google, perhaps as soon as Thursday. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat, and Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, a Republican, will reportedly lead the complain alleging Google redesigned its search engine in a way that hurt rivals. The Department of Justice meanwhile launched an antitrust suit against Google in October, alleging its partnership with Apple was just another attempt to secure its monopoly.

Beyond Paxton's ill-fated election lawsuit, he's also facing allegations of bribery and corruption and may be hoping for a pardon from President Trump.