California is seeking to join the Justice Department in its antitrust lawsuit against Google parent Alphabet Inc., one of the state's largest businesses.
State Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed the motion to join the case in federal court on Friday.
"Google's anticompetitive behavior has unlawfully maintained the company's monopoly on internet search and search-based advertising at the expense of consumers," said Becerra.
The Justice Department sued Google in October. The case, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., alleges that Google uses billions of dollars collected from advertisers to pay phone manufacturers to ensure Google is the default search engine on browsers. This, the lawsuit claims, harms consumers and stifles smaller rivals.
Eleven states, all with Republican attorneys general, joined the federal government in the lawsuit at the time. California is the first Democratic state announcing its intent to join the Justice Department's case.
Along with the Federal Trade Commission and 47 other states and territories, Becerra also sued Facebook this week for allegedly violating federal antitrust laws by buying smaller competitors like Instagram and WhatsApp to maintain a monopoly. Also this week, President-elect Joe Biden picked Becerra to be his health secretary
Google, which is based in Mountain View, California, has until Dec. 18 to respond to the state's motion.
The company said it is "confident" in its position and will continue to make its case in court.
"People use Google because they choose to, not because they're forced to, or because they can't find alternatives," it said in a statement.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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