The video-sharing site Rumble Inc. in a lawsuit accuses Google of abusing the power of its search engine and mobile operating system to bolster its YouTube video service over competitors, the latest allegation of anti-competitive competition against the Alphabet Inc. unit.
Toronto-based Rumble, which has become popular among conservative experts, filed an antitrust case in federal court in California on Monday, arguing that Google unfairly directs its search algorithms to place YouTube above Rumble in its search results. Rumble said Google’s behavior cost a significant number of viewers and advertising dollars.
The lawsuit also alleges that Google’s offers to pre-install a YouTube app on mobile devices running Google’s Android operating system unfairly deprived viewers of Rumble.
“Google was able to illegally direct massive traffic to YouTube through its search engine and deprive Rumble of the additional traffic, users, uploads, brand awareness and revenue it would otherwise receive,” the lawsuit reads.
“We will defend ourselves against these unfounded claims,” a Google spokesman said.