Lagatar24 Desk
New, Delhi, Jan 25: The US Justice Department and eight states sued Google on Tuesday, looking to shatter its so-called monopoly on the entire online advertising ecosystem as a hurtful burden to advertisers, consumers and even the U.S. government.
The federal antitrust suit accused Google of unlawfully maintaining a monopoly that had ‘corrupted legitimate competition in the ad tech industry.’
“Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful means to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies,” the suit added.
The case was launched by the US Justice Department (DOJ) in conjunction with eight states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Virginia. The prosecutors said, “Google now controls the crucial sector, meaning website creators earn less and advertisers pay more, all while innovation is choked by the lack of rivals.”
“In pursuit of outsized profits, Google has caused great harm to online publishers and advertisers and American consumers,” said Deputy US Attorney General Lisa Monaco in a statement.
Google has denied vehemently it is a monopoly, saying rivals in the online ad market include Amazon, Facebook-owner Meta and Microsoft.
“Today’s lawsuit from the DOJ attempts to pick winners and losers in the highly competitive advertising technology sector,” a Google spokesperson said in an email.
“The lawsuit is doubling down on a flawed argument that would slow innovation, raise advertising fees, and make it harder for thousands of small businesses and publishers to grow,” Google added.
Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), a big tech lobby, said the lawsuit failed to take into account offline rivals that include ads in newspapers and on TV and radio.
“Digital ads aren’t in competition with print, broadcast, and outdoor advertising defies reason,” CCIA said in a statement.
The lawsuit is quit a big deal because it aligns the entire nation-state and federal governments in a bipartisan legal offensive against Google alone.
