Matt Stoller, the research director at the American Economic Liberties Project, said on Wednesday that the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust case against Google is “not partisan.”
Stoller told Hill.TV’s “Rising” that Attorney General William Barr is trying to get the lawsuit out before the election, and said it’s the “most interesting thing happening in the administration so far.”
“This is not a partisan cheap shot. There probably is a little bit of electoral ramifications here, or at least he might think that,” Stoller said, referring to Barr. “But largely it’s just ‘I want to get this out before Biden people come in and try to squash it.’”
Stoller also called the charges a “huge deal,” adding that they were “massive” both ideologically and politically.
“You have the Trump administration—a right-wing Republican administration–trying to break up a trillion dollar company,” Stoller said. “That is a huge deal because we haven’t seen that in decades.”
“This the most important thing in terms of government and policy towards the economy this year and maybe for the last 40 years at least in terms of corporate power…and it’s a huge progressive victory.”
Stoller predicted that if Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden were to be elected, he would keep the suit alive or be more aggressive with it, saying “there’s too much momentum behind it” from Congress and Democratic state attorneys general.
The Justice Department on Tuesday charged Google with illegally maintaining a monopoly on search and search advertising. Google has rejected the case as “deeply flawed.”
hilltv copyright