The suit alleges that the company engaged in a “systematic campaign” to gain a grip on the high-tech tools that publishers, advertisers and brokers use to buy and sell digital advertising.
“Having inserted itself into all aspects of the digital advertising marketplace, Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful means to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies,” the lawsuit says.
Google has used its control over the ad market to harm its rivals, resulting in a “broken” advertising market where website creators earn less and advertisers pay more, the DOJ says. This also affects consumers because when publishers make less money from advertising, they have to charge people through subscriptions, paywalls and other forms of monetization, the lawsuit claims.
The suit adds to Google’s mounting legal challenges, as the company is already fending off a separate federal antitrust lawsuit that was filed in fall 2020 during the Donald Trump administration. That suit is scheduled to go to trial later this year and alleges that aspects of Google’s contracts with other companies are exclusionary and serve to reinforce Google’s dominance at the expense of rivals. Google also faces multiple antitrust lawsuits led by state attorneys general.
The federal government has been investigating alleged monopoly behavior by Google and other tech giants for several years as the industry amassed more power and influence. A sweeping 16-month investigation conducted by the House’s top antitrust panel concluded in 2020 that Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google engaged in anti-competitive, monopoly-style tactics to become leading tech giants. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Google called the first lawsuit “deeply flawed” when it was filed, and said it wouldn’t help consumers. The company did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday’s suit.
President Biden has signaled his intention to take on Big Tech’s power, in part by appointing tech monopoly critics Lina Khan as head of the FTC as well as Kanter. But the push for greater antitrust enforcement in the United States has floundered in recent years. The last Congress did not pass significant legislation addressing Big Tech’s growing power, despite a years-long, bipartisan push to overhaul existing U.S. antitrust law.
The U.S. government has brought more antitrust lawsuits in recent years, but they face an uphill battle in a court system that has taken an increasingly narrow view of competition law. The lawsuits are also often lengthy affairs that take years to reach trial and outcomes.
