DOJ files second antitrust suit against Google, seeks to break up its ad business

The Justice Department and eight states on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Google over its digital advertising business, claiming the tech giant illegally monopolizes the market for online ads and systematically stifles competitors.

It is the second antitrust suit federal authorities have brought against the company's advertising empire, which has for years been under scrutiny over allegations of self-dealing.

In its 155-page suit filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, authorities say acquisitions Google made to boost its advertising division effectively forced advertisers and publishers to use its products to the detriment of rival advertising firms.

"One industry behemoth, Google, has corrupted legitimate competition in the ad tech industry by engaging in a systematic campaign to seize control of the wide swath of high-tech tools used by publishers, advertisers, and brokers, to facilitate digital advertising," prosecutors wrote in the suit on Tuesday.

While the litigation is expected to drag on for some time, prosecutors are asking a federal judge to force Google to break up its advertising segment from the rest of the company.

In the suit, authorities allege that the world of online advertising has been slanted to favor Google "for reasons that were neither accidental nor inevitable."

"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," prosecutors also wrote in the filings.

Google did not immediately return a request for comment. [Copyright 2023 NPR]