Copesa, considered one of the largest media groups in Chile, announced this Friday (8) that it has sued Google for what it claims is an abuse of its almost monopoly position in the search and digital advertising markets.
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In the indictment, filed with the Free Competition Court (TDLC, its acronym in Spanish), a Chilean judicial body, Copesa states that Google adopted “exploitative, exclusionary and unfair competition practices” that harmed the revenues of its vehicles.
The action seeks compensation of US$48.5 million from Copesa.
With this, the Chilean group also asks the Court to declare that Google violated free competition rules and that the company must refrain from carrying out practices that prevent or restrict the online participation of Copesa vehicles in Chile.
For the Chilean group, this is the result of a “deliberate and calculated plan” by Google that creates a vicious cycle involving the appropriation of content generated by news sites and investment in online advertising.
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The lawsuit claims that Google creates a “clickless” world, in which readers consume news through the search engine and do not access the sites that produced it.
Furthermore, Copesa’s lawsuit follows other actions regarding Google’s alleged anti-competitive practices.
The United States Department of Justice accuses the search engine of having abused its dominant position by entering into agreements that stifle competition to prioritize its search engine in browsers and operating systems.
Communication companies in countries such as the USA, Canada, the United Kingdom and France also sued Google because they believed the company had acted to harm their business.
