US government sues Google for monopolizing digital advertising technologies

Published February 17, 2023 | By NewsJive.com

The US Justice Department has decided to file a lawsuit against Google, accused of monopolizing multiple digital advertising technology products in violation with US competition laws. The US government see this lawsuit as a “milestone” in efforts to hold the “Big tech” companies accountable for violations of the country’s antitrust laws.

The filed lawsuit alleges that Google over the past 15 years has been engaged in “anticompetitive and exclusionary conduct” that consisted of “neutralizing or eliminating ad tech competitors through acquisitions; wielding its dominance across digital advertising markets to force more publishers and advertisers to use its products; and thwarting the ability to use competing products”, the Justice Department writes in the filed lawsuit.

The complaint also states that Google “monopolizes key digital advertising technologies, collectively referred to as the ‘ad tech stack,’ that website publishers depend on to sell ads and that advertisers rely on to buy ads and reach potential customers”.

By this behavior, Google has “cemented its dominance” in tools relied on by website publishers and online advertisers, as well as the digital advertising exchange that runs ad auctions, and the Justice Department now seeks to “restore competition” in these important markets and “obtain equitable and monetary relief” on behalf of the American public, according to the complaint.

“Today’s lawsuit seeks to hold Google to account for its longstanding monopolies in digital advertising technologies that content creators use to sell ads and advertisers use to buy ads on the open internet,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.

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