Sep 25, 2020 - Technology

Alphabet settles shareholder suit over handling of sexual harassment

Photo: TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP via Getty Images

Google parent company Alphabet has settled a 2019 shareholder lawsuit over its handling of sexual harassment claims, agreeing to limit mandatory arbitration and non-disclosure agreements in such cases, to prevent executives under investigation from receiving severance or accelerating stock sales, and to commit to investing $310 million over a decade in a diversity council.

Why it matters: Google is among the highest-profile tech companies to face a backlash— including a large employee walkout — for covering up sexual harassment.

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Scott Rosenberg, Ashley Gold, Kyle Daly
Oct 21, 2020 - Technology

U.S. vs. Google — the siege begins

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The Justice Department fired the starter pistol on what's likely to be a years-long legal siege of Big Tech by the U.S. government when it filed a major antitrust suit Tuesday against Google.

The big picture: Once a generation, it seems, federal regulators decide to take on a dominant tech company. Two decades ago, Microsoft was the target; two decades before that, IBM.

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Kyle Daly
Oct 20, 2020 - Technology

Here's what the U.S. antitrust case charges Google with

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

The Justice Department's new antitrust lawsuit against Google centers on the charge that Google has built a self-reinforcing machine to illegally insulate it from any serious competition in search.

Why it matters: DOJ spent more than a year investigating Google to assemble what prosecutors believe is the cleanest case for convincing a court that the company is deliberately hamstringing would-be competition. Both sides now face the likelihood of a bruising, years-long battle that could expand to touch on other aspects of Google's business.

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Axios
Oct 21, 2020 - Podcasts

House antitrust chair talks USA vs. Google

The Justice Department filed a 63-page antitrust lawsuit against Google related to the tech giant's search and advertising business. This comes just weeks after the House subcommittee on antitrust issued its own scathing report on Google and other Big Tech companies, arguing they've become digital monopolies.

Axios Re:Cap talks with Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), chair of the subcommittee on antitrust, about Google, the DOJ's lawsuit and Congress' next move.