The Justice Department will sue Google for an alleged monopoly on internet searches

By Michael Balsamo and Marcy Gordon - AP

The Justice Department files a lawsuit against Alphabet Inc, the company that owns the Google search engine, alleging that the Califronia-based company has abused its global domain on the Internet in the face of competition.

The lawsuit could open the ban on other major antitrust actions by the government headed by Donald Trump, as the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have ongoing investigations against major technology companies, including Apple, Amazon and Facebook. 

The litigation against Google will be the most important in the United States to protect free competition since the case against Microsoft more than 20 years ago.

The company has not yet issued a statement in this regard.

It is also announced just two weeks before the presidential and legislative elections on November 3. 

[A congressional report concludes that Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook have "monopoly power"]

Legislators and consumer advocates have in any case long accused Google, whose company has a market value of more than a trillion dollars, of abusing its dominance in internet searches and online advertising, crushing competition and raising your earnings.

The most critical voices argue that the multi-million dollar fines and mandatory changes in technology entity practices imposed by European regulators in recent years were not severe enough, and that structural changes are needed for the Californian company to change its behavior.

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The lawsuit will be filed in federal court in Washington, DC, alleging that the company uses billions of dollars collected from advertisers to make sure cell phone makers preset Google's default search engine in browsers. 

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The Trump Administration has long targeted the tech firm founded in 1998. A top economic adviser to the president claimed two years ago that the White House was considering using its search engine should it be subject to government regulation.

Trump himself has often criticized Google, amplifying unsubstantiated claims that the search giant is biased against conservatives, suppresses their views, interferes in US elections, and prefers to work with the Chinese military rather than the Pentagon.

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Google accumulates about 90% of global web searches.

The company has been preparing for government action and is expected to fiercely oppose any attempt to force it to split its services into separate businesses.

The Mountain View, California-based multinational has long denied allegations of unfair competition.

It maintains that, although its businesses are large, they are useful and beneficial to consumers and it maintains that its services not only face wide competition, but have also developed innovative products that help its users better manage their lives.

Most of their services are offered free of charge in exchange for personal information that helps Google sell its ads.

The company insists that it does not have any special powers that force people to use its free services or prevent them from using other tools.