Google LLC is being sued by the US Department of Justice for being in violation of antitrust laws. The company is accused of monopolizing the market of online advertising.
The Department of Justice is expected to file the lawsuit in the following weeks, after Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, has unsuccessfully attempted to reach a settlement.
The main accusation that the antitrust investigators have issued against the company is that it uses anti-competitive practices in order to maintain its monopoly on the market. In response, Google declared that it actually has strong competition from other big companies like Amazon and Meta.
The online publication, Silicon Angle, reported that last week, Google was accused of trying to separate the division that handles ad placement from the company and establish it as a separate organization, under the wing of Alphabet Inc. However, Bloomberg interviewed a Google spokesperson who denied the rumor, stating that “the company does not plan to sell its ad tech business.” The spokesperson went on to add that
We have been engaging constructively with regulators to address their concerns,” the spokesperson told Bloomberg. “As we’ve said before, we have no plans to sell or exit this business, and we’re deeply committed to providing value to a wide array of publisher and advertiser partners in a highly competitive sector.”
The Department of Justice did not issue a statement on this report but has previously confirmed that a lawsuit was in the making for Google. Back in April, Doha Meki, a representative of the DOJ, declared that the antitrust division was working on building the case and that they didn’t intend to agree on a settlement.
But Google’s problems with the law are not recent news. They actually began in 2020, when the Department of Justice launched another lawsuit against the company, which they accused of monopoly in its online search and advertising sectors.
Furthermore, the company’s legal issues are limited to the US only. The European Commission has also started an investigation against the company, seeking to determine whether it is in violation of the EU competition laws through its Youtuber advertising campaigns. This is the result of the fact that YouTube ads can only be purchased through Google’s ad services.