A US District Judge, Amit Mehta, has set a status hearing on the antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet Inc's Google, filed by the US Department of Justice last Tuesday.
The telephone status hearing is to take place on Friday and will be open to the public.
The Justice Department has sued the $1 trillion tech giant for alleged abuse of search dominance. The lawsuit contends that Google has used anti-competitive tactics to maintain and extend its monopolies in search and search advertising.
According to Attorney General William Barr, "this lawsuit strikes at the heart of Google's grip over the internet for millions of American consumers, advertisers, small businesses and entrepreneurs beholden to an unlawful monopolist".
Google was also accused of entering into long-term agreements with Apple that required it to be the default - and de facto exclusive - general search engine on Apple's popular Safari browser.
The company reacted on Twitter the same day, saying that the lawsuit is "deeply flawed" and that consumers use Google because they choose to, not for lack of alternatives.
Today’s lawsuit by the Department of Justice is deeply flawed. People use Google because they choose to -- not because they're forced to or because they can't find alternatives. We will have a full statement this morning.
— Google Public Policy (@googlepubpolicy) October 20, 2020
In early October, the US Senate voted unanimously to subpoena the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook and Google's Alphabet for a hearing on the legal immunity they enjoyed over content posted by their platforms' users.
