The U.S. Department of Justice is renewing its antitrust investigation on whether Google GOOG 0.00 bundles its map and search products to force app developers to use both.
Politico reported that the DOJ is looking how Google Automotive Services is used to package maps, app store and voice assistant for auto manufacturers. The publication also reported that DOJ officials have been meeting with Google competitors and customers to assess who would be witnesses in a potential lawsuit, which could come as early as this year.
As Location Business News reported last year, Google Maps’ parent company Alphabet Inc. grabbed an initial victory in court against antitrust litigation that alleged its Maps business steered app developers into using its products over those of competitors. According to published reports, Judge Jeffrey White, who tentatively dismissed the proposed class action, gave businesses leading the proposed class action 30 days to refile.
Google, and its lucrative Maps business, has been in legal trouble before. In November, Google paid the largest privacy settlement of its kind, $391.5 million, to settle a multistate investigation into allegations it tracked user locations without their permission.
The investigation, led by Oregon and Nebraska with 38 other state attorney generals, found that Google mislead its users to think they had turned off location tracking features on their smartphones. However, the user location data was stored and then used for Google’s lucrative ad business.
