Fifth in a long line of several alternative lawsuits, the US Department of Justice is seeking to target Google over its alleged monopoly on online advertising. The DOJ's new suit, which is now the second lawsuit against Google in the past two years, claims that the tech conglomerate is unlawfully leveraging its standing to acquire so-called "high-tech tools used by publishers, advertisers and brokers" to empower its own ad empire.
The antitrust lawsuit makes several claims against Google, describing the conglomerate's actions as a two-pronged approach that involved the use of "its dominance across digital advertising markets to force more publishers and advertisers to use its products while disrupting their ability to use competing products effectively," in tandem with the elimination of "ad tech competitors, actual or potential, through a series of acquisitions."
Google has long denied its overall supremacy in the advertising industry, pointing at alternative competitors like Meta and Amazon as being major culprits within the space. Despite these claims, however, Google's ad business took home a whopping $54.5 billion in the last quarter, culminating on September 30th. Come 2023, a market estimate projected by Oberlo suggests the firm's ad revenue could reach as high as $75.9 billion for the year.
The lawsuit filed on Tuesday, which is the first under the Biden administration, aims to divest much of Google's control in the market. It asks the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to ensure Google not only rids itself of the ad tech products it currently holds, but to likewise give up its ownership over the marketplace software that allows the purchase and sale of ads across the internet.
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Google's marketplace stranglehold is a major issue for most contenders, as it allows the conglomerate a wide swath of control within the industry. Not only does this software allow Google access to both ad buying and selling, it also is an entire ad exchange ecosystem, lending the firm unparalleled penetration of the market.
A separate lawsuit filed in October 2020 under the Trump administration focuses on the firm's stranglehold of internet search tools. The suit, intended to go to trial come September 2023, highlights Google's efforts to eliminate competition through the use of exclusionary agreements in accordance with internet search protocols.
Google also has several other lawsuits against it headed by various state attorneys, the most prominent among them being Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who similarly argues in his state's own complaint that the firm unlawfully bundled ad products to steer publishers into using another Google tool for its ad exchange. Essentially, the lawsuit alleges that Google maintains a monopoly over all sides of the ad market space. However, the suit has languished much in the courts.
Various states, including California, New Jersey, New York, and more, are backing the DOJ's recent lawsuit. It's clear that Google's search engine know-how, in tandem with its ad tech prowess, aided its unimpeded expansion within the fold. Fourth quarter results for Google's parent company, Alphabet, will be published on Feb. 2, and it should be interesting to see how the firm fares in the online ad market realm.
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