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Online Travel

FTC Staff Wanted to Sue Google for Ripping Off TripAdvisor and Yelp

Dennis Schaal photo
Dennis Schaal

Photo Credit: The FTC staff concluded in 2013 during an antitrust probe of Google that it was illegally scraping user reviews of hotels and restaurants from TripAdvisor and Yelp without their permission. Pictured is a photo of New York's Hotel Pennsylvania as displayed on Google. Google

Skift Take

Google dodged a bullet in 2013 when the FTC terminated its antitrust probe without forcing meaningful concessions or filing suit. Now we know that the rank and file within the FTC wanted to fight it out with Google in court.

The Federal Trade Commission's bureau of competition staff advised the commission to sue Google and agreed with TripAdvisor's and Yelp's charges in 2011 that Google was illegally ripping off their user reviews, but the FTC decided not to challenge Google in court. The FTC staff likewise agreed in 2013 with TripAdvisor's and Yelp's assertions to Congress that Google had threatened to remove the two companies from the Google search engine if they didn't agree to let Google display their rev

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