DOJ sues Google, claiming monopoly on online ads

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The Justice Department and eight states filed a lawsuit against Google this week, claiming the company has dominance over online advertising space.

The lawsuit is the Justice Department’s second lawsuit against Google, after it filed a separate lawsuit against the company’s alleged monopoly on Internet search traffic in 2020. Google has long held the top spot in digital advertising, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the industry last year.

“Google’s anticompetitive behavior has raised barriers to entry to artificially high levels, forced major competitors out of the ad technology tools market, deterred potential competitors from entering the market, and left the few remaining competitors of Google marginalized and unfairly disadvantaged,” DOJ and the eight states say.

“The damage is clear: Website creators make less and advertisers pay more than they would in a market where unlimited competitive pressure could regulate prices and lead to more innovative ad tech tools that would ultimately result in higher quality, lower cost transactions for the participating market,” the lawsuit continues.

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Lettering with the Google logo is glued to a glass plate in the print center. (Rolf Vennenbernd/picture alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The Justice Department inscription is seen on the headquarters building in Washington, DC, U.S. on Oct. 20, 2022. (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The plaintiffs are asking the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to order the divestment of the Google Ad Manager suite, including its publisher ad server DFP and its AdX ad exchange.

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News of the lawsuit comes days after Alphabet, the parent company of Google, announced plans to lay off 12,000 workers across its various teams.

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Digital advertising accounts for about 80% of Google’s revenue, and its dominance in the space has shrunk in recent years. It accounted for 36.7% of digital advertising in 2016 but fell to 28.8% in 2022, according to Reuters.

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The other lawsuit filed by the Justice Department against Google is expected to go to trial in September.

READ THE DOJ’S SUIT AGAINST GOOGLE: APP USERS, CLICK HERE:

Google dismissed the DOJ’s lawsuit in a statement to Fox News Digital. The company also released a blog post on Tuesday in response to the lawsuit.

“Today’s DOJ lawsuit attempts to pick winners and losers in the highly competitive ad technology industry. It largely duplicates an unfounded lawsuit by the Texas Attorney General, much of which was recently dismissed in federal court. The DOJ is doubling down on a flawed argument that would slow innovation, drive up advertising costs and make it more difficult for thousands of small businesses and publishers to grow,” a Google spokesperson wrote, inserting his own hyperlinks.

The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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