A New Target in Antitrust Battle Against Google: Maps

Maps have suddenly become a new front in the antitrust war against Google. Credit for that goes to Mapbox, a growing rival to Google Maps that steered federal investigators to alleged abuses by the company, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation.

A congressional report on Tuesday, which made antitrust claims against four major tech companies, included a little-noticed allegation that Google Maps abused its market power and harmed its customers. Mapbox, which quietly raised funding this year at a private valuation of $1 billion, influenced a section of the 449-page report that said apps that pay Google to use its maps or location data are prohibited from simultaneously using certain services from rival mapping providers. The report said that Google increasingly has enforced this restriction.