- Canadian video-sharing platform Rumble is suing Google over allegations that the technology giant unfairly targets its search algorithm on YouTube videos in its search results.
- Rumble is a direct competitor of YouTube that has become popular among conservative American figures who say they are censored by established technology platforms.
- The lawsuit indicates that Google and other major tech players may be experiencing antitrust headaches from smaller, conservative-friendly competitors.
- Rumble’s lawsuit accuses technology giant of “intentionally and illegally creating and maintaining a monopoly in the online video sharing platform.”
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The video-sharing site Rumble accused Google of “unfairly equipping its search algorithm” to favor YouTube’s videos in the search results. It’s the latest technology giant in a series of antitrust headaches.
Rumble, based in Toronto, filed a lawsuit in California on Monday alleging that Google unfairly cost viewers and advertising revenue because of its search algorithms and pre-installation of the YouTube app on Android devices.
“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 complaint reads.
Google has faced a series of antitrust actions over the past few years over its dominance in search, and has attracted attention from US authorities, European Union lawmakers and market competitors.
Rumble has become popular among conservatives over the past year or so, encouraged by Republican Rep. Devin Nunes and others. The company says that more than 2 million creators use the site.
Influential right-wingers in the US have taken an aggressive stance against established US technology companies such as Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon, a position that has recently been strengthened by the platforms working together to reject the right-wing social messaging platform Parler.
Currently, Rumble features a list of the most-watched videos, conservative political commentator Dan Bongino, Fox News presenter Sean Hannity, and conservative YouTubers Diamond and Silk. CEO Chris Pavlovski regularly posts updates on Twitter about right-wing figures joining the platform.
In his complaint, Rumble claims that Google “intentionally and unlawfully created and maintained a monopoly in the online video sharing platform for videos.”
“First,” he added, “by manipulating the algorithms that list searched video results, Google ensures that the videos on YouTube are listed first and that those of its competitors … are listed next to the list. ..
“Second, by pre-installing the YouTube app as the standard online video app on Google smartphones, and by entering into competitive, illegal binding agreements with other smartphone makers to do the same.”
The firm has indicated that it is seeking at least $ 2 billion in damages.
Rumble’s complaint comes shortly after Parler sued Amazon.
Amazon offered Parler’s service at its cloud service, AWS, but started the firm after the U.S. Capitol riot last week. In his subsequent case, Parler argued that Amazon was acting competitively. Parler’s lawsuit indicates that websites and apps that are banned or penalized by U.S. technology giants for violent speech are willing to use the emerging antitrust sentiment in court.
A Google representative told The Wall Street Journal: ‘We will defend ourselves against these unfounded claims. ‘
Rumble and Google did not immediately respond to requests for further comment from Business Insider.
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