Justice Department sues Google over anticompetitive advertising practices

January 28, 2023

Google got bad news from the Department of Justice and several states this week who allege that Google's dominance in digital advertising harms competition.

"The government alleges that Google’s plan to assert dominance has been to 'neutralize or eliminate' rivals through acquisitions and to force advertisers to use its products by making it difficult to use competitors' products," reported Breitbart.

The antitrust lawsuit was filed in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.

"The DOJ’s suit accuses Google of unlawfully monopolizing the way ads are served online by excluding competitors," according to Breitbart. "This includes its 2008 acquisition of DoubleClick, a dominant ad server, and subsequent rollout of technology that locks in the split-second bidding process for ads that get served on Web pages."

Alphabet Incorporated, Google’s parent company, was asked for a comment regarding the suit, but did not immediately respond.

"Dina Srinivasan, a Yale University fellow and adtech expert, said the lawsuit is 'huge' because it aligns the entire nation — state and federal governments — in a bipartisan legal offensive against Google," reported Breitbart.

The states involved in the suit are California, Virginia, Connecticut, Colorado, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Tennessee.

Source: Breitbart