Washington, D.C. — Today, the American Economic Liberties Project, Demand Progress and a coalition of 9 other advocacy groups sent a letter to the Department of Justice Antitrust Division urging an immediate investigation into YouTube’s alarming market dominance and anticompetitive practices. Against the backdrop of other DOJ challenges to Google’s search engine and adtech monopolies, the letter highlights concerns over YouTube’s role in reinforcing Google’s dominance and demands scrutiny to protect competition and choice.

“YouTube is yet another bloated tendril of Google’s massive monopoly power, one U.S. enforcers should examine closely,” said Morgan Harper, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “Google’s integration of YouTube into nearly every connected TV and smartphone mirrors the results of its monopolistic tactics in other lines of business like search: competition gets squashed, innovation lags, and consumers have fewer options. It’s time for a closer look at Google and YouTube’s anticompetitive practices before its dominance causes irreversible damage to the online-video and entertainment market.”

“YouTube is a great example of how monopoly power begets more monopoly power,” said Demand Progress Corporate Power Director Emily Peterson-Cassin. “Google’s hoard of data about its users fuels their recommendations, which drive people to spend more time on the platform and allows Google to extract even more information on them. This vicious cycle must be stopped, and we encourage regulators break up Google and end this abusive cycle.”

The letter details YouTube’s significant role in maintaining Google’s monopoly, highlighting its integration into nearly every connected TV and smartphone, which makes it a ubiquitous presence in entertainment. By using every resource to eliminate competitors, force bundled services, and more, YouTube centers its market strategy on undermining fair competition. YouTube’s substantial market share, with a record-high portion of TV viewership in the U.S. and aggressive moves into podcasting and live TV, make clear that its dominance shows no sign of slowing. With European regulators already taking action against YouTube’s practices, the letter calls for the DOJ to conduct a thorough investigation to protect consumer choice and promote innovation in the online-video and entertainment market.

Read the full letter here.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.