Criticism of Google
Criticism of Google includes concern for tax avoidance, misuse and manipulation of search results, its use of others' intellectual property, concerns that its compilation of data may violate people's privacy and collaboration with the U.S. military on Google Earth to spy on users, censorship of search results and content, its cooperation with the Israeli military on Project Nimbus targeting Palestinians, and the energy consumption of its servers as well as concerns over traditional business issues such as monopoly, restraint of trade, antitrust, patent infringement, indexing and presenting false information and propaganda in search results, and accusations that the company functions as an "Ideological Echo Chamber". Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its Google Ads program.
Google's stated mission is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful"; this mission, and the means used to accomplish it, have raised concerns among the company's critics. Several of these criticisms fall into grey areas of law, since cyber law has not definitively addressed them. Shona Ghosh, a journalist for Business Insider, noted a growing digital resistance movement against Google.
Algorithms
The algorithms that generate search results and recommend videos on YouTube have been criticized for being designed to maximize user engagement by reinforcing users' pre-existing beliefs while also suggesting more extreme and less reliable content. Along with algorithms used on social media platforms, these algorithms have received substantial criticism as a driver of political polarization, Internet addiction disorder, and the promotion of misinformation, disinformation, violence, and other externalities. When Google's parent company Alphabet announced in September 2025 that it would reinstate YouTube creators that were banned for spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and the 2020 U.S. presidential election, it was criticized for prioritizing "free expression" over "facts" and placed within the context of the company's shift dating back to 2023. Aviv Ovadya argues that these algorithms incentivize the creation of divisive content in addition to promoting existing divisive content. Sally Hubbard argues that the monopoly‑like position of sites such as YouTube and Google Search contributes to the spread of fake news, whereas more competition in the market could make it harder to promote harmful content by just gaming one algorithm.In 2025, Google ended its pledge not to use AI for weapons and surveillance.
Antitrust
From the 2000s onward, Google and parent company Alphabet Inc. have faced antitrust scrutiny over alleged anti-competitive conduct in violation of competition law in several jurisdictions. Antitrust scrutiny of Google has primarily centered on the company's dominance in the search engine and digital advertising markets. The company has also been accused of leveraging control of the Android operating system to illegally curb competition. Google has also received antitrust scrutiny over its control of the Google Play store and alleged "self-preferencing" at the expense of third-party developers. Additionally, Google's alleged discrimination against rivals' advertisements on YouTube has been subject to antitrust litigation. More recently, Google Maps and the Google Automotive Services package have become the target of antitrust scrutiny.European Union
The European Commission has pursued several competition law cases against Google, namely:- Complaint that Google abused its position as a dominant search engine to favor its own services over those of competitors. In particular, Google operated a free comparison shopping website Froogle, which it abandoned in favor of a paid-placement-only site called Google Shopping. Other comparison sites complained of a precipitous drop in web traffic due to changes in the Google search algorithm, and some were driven out of business. The investigation began in 2010 and concluded in July 2017 with a €2.42 billion fine against the parent company Alphabet, and an order to change its practices within 90 days.
- Complaint opened in 2015 that the dominance of the Android operating system was abused to make it difficult for competing third-party apps and search engines to be pre-installed on mobile phones
- Complaint opened in 2016 that Google abused its market dominance to prevent competing advertising companies to sell ads to websites already using Google AdSense.
- In June 2023, the European Union accused Google of abusing its control of the EU market for buying and selling online advertising to undercut rivals.
U.S. antitrust issues
In October 2012, it was reported that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission staff were preparing a recommendation that the government sue Google on antitrust grounds. The areas of concern include accusations of manipulating the search results to favor Google services such as Google Shopping for buying goods and Google Places for advertising local restaurants and businesses; whether Google's automated advertising marketplace, AdWords, discriminates against advertisers from competing online commerce services like comparison shopping sites and consumer review Web sites; whether Google's contracts with smartphone makers and carriers prevent them from removing or modifying Google products, such as its Android operating system or Google Search; and Google's use of its smartphone patents. A likely outcome of the antitrust investigations is a negotiated settlement where Google would agree not to discriminate in favor of its products over smaller competitors. Federal Trade Commission ended its investigation during a period which the co-founder of Google, Larry Page, had met with individuals at the White House and the Federal Trade Commission, leading to voluntary changes by Google; since January 2009 to March 2015 employees of Google have met with officials in the White House about 230 times according to The Wall Street Journal.
In June 2015, Google reached an advertising agreement with Yahoo!, which would have allowed Yahoo! to feature Google advertisements on its web pages. The alliance between the two companies was never completely realized because of antitrust concerns by the U.S. Department of Justice. As a result, Google pulled out of the deal in November 2018. In September 2023 Google's antitrust trial United States v. Google LLC began at federal court in Washington, D.C. in which the DOJ accuses Google of illegally creating a monopoly by paying billions of dollars to smartphone vendors and mobile carriers to make Google's search engine the default service. The federal court ruled in August 2024 that Google did abuse its position in search engines and violated the Sherman Act. In September 2025, Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google would not be required to divest of Chrome or Android, but would be barred from including search in exclusive contracts and required to share certain search index data and user interaction data. In January 2023, the DOJ filed a similar lawsuit, referred to as United States v. Google LLC, accusing Google of monopolizing the digital advertising industry. The complaint alleged that the company had engaged in "anticompetitive and exclusionary conduct" over the previous 15 years. The trial began on September 9, 2024.
Android
On April 20, 2016, the European Union filed a formal antitrust complaint alleging that Google used its leverage over Android device vendors to require the mandatory bundling of its proprietary software, which hindered the ability of competing search providers to be integrated into Android and that barring vendors from producing devices running forks of Android both constituted anti-competitive practices. In June 2018, the European Commission determined a $5 billion fine for Google regarding the April 2016 complaints.In August 2016, Google was fined US$6.75 million by the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service under similar allegations by Yandex. On April 16, 2018, Umar Javeed, Sukarma Thapar, Aaqib Javeed vs. Google LLC & Ors. resulted in the Competition Commission of India ordering a wider investigation into alleged anti‑competitive business practices related to Android. The investigations arm of the CCI should complete the wider probe in the case within 150 days, the order said, though such cases at the watchdog typically drag on for years. The CCI also said the role of any Google executive in the alleged abuse of the Android platform should also be examined. Google was fined $275 million in 2023 by the Indian government for issues related to Android and for pushing developers to use its in-app payment system.