The Justice Department and several states sued Google on Tuesday alleging its dominance in digital advertising hurts competition.
The U.S. Justice Department and several states sued Google on Tuesday alleging its dominance in digital advertising hurts competition.
The government claims that Google’s plan to assert dominance is to “neutralize or eliminate” rivals through acquisitions and to force advertisers to use its products by making it difficult to use competitors’ products.
The antitrust suit was filed in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. Attorney General Merrick Garland was expected to discuss it at a news conference later Tuesday.
The DOJ lawsuit accuses Google of unlawfully monopolizing the way ads are displayed online by excluding competitors. This includes the 2007 acquisition of DoubleClick, a dominant ad server, and the subsequent rollout of technology that locks down the split-second bidding process for ads displayed on web pages.
Representatives from Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, did not immediately respond to a message for comment.