The video sharing site Rumble Inc. accused Google in a lawsuit of abusing the power of its search engine and mobile operating system to increase its YouTube video service over rivals, the latest allegation of anti-competitive conduct against the Alphabet Inc. unit.
Toronto-based Rumble, which has become popular among Conservative experts, filed an antitrust lawsuit in a California federal court on Monday, arguing that Google “unfairly plots its search algorithms” to place YouTube above Rumble in your search results. Rumble said Google’s behavior cost it a significant number of viewers and advertising dollars.
The lawsuit also argues that Google’s bid to pre-install a YouTube app on mobile devices running Google’s Android operating system has unfairly deprived viewers of Rumble.
“Google, through its search engine, was able to divert mass traffic diversion to YouTube, depriving Rumble of additional traffic, users, uploads, brand awareness and revenue than any other way I would have received, ”the lawsuit states.
“We will defend ourselves against these baseless claims,” a Google spokeswoman said.