In a now familiar legal refrain, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is reportedly preparing to sue Google (Alphabet Inc.) in an anti-trust lawsuit due to its alleged monopoly on ad systems.
Bloomberg first broke the news, saying Google’s massive dominance in the online ad space is under fire from the DOJ.
Google is already facing a 2020 DOJ anti-trust suit due to its overwhelming dominance in the online web search marketplace. The allegations for this prior lawsuit include claims Google is suppressing the competition, meaning they are being accused of being a monopoly.
At issue in the upcoming September DOJ lawsuit, according to three anonymous Bloomberg sources, is the preponderance of Google’s ad space, which is a powerful tool for any business of any size. The way Google ads works is innovative and genius. Their ad space is built upon the algorithms of consumers' top search words and phrases.
Since Google is the largest advertising and search engine on the planet, it has sophisticated bots that keep track of trends, popular search words, and questions. If you want to run a successful ad, Google is the number one choice for billions of people.
Another tool called Google Ad Sense is offered by the mega-giant platform. Google Ad Sense lets clients use a bidding system to bid for the top keywords popping up on the internet.
In July, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google would entertain breaking off parts of its company, such as the advertising platform, to avoid a new DOJ lawsuit. A Google spokesperson addressed the issue.
“Our advertising technologies help websites and apps fund their content, and enable small businesses to reach customers around the world,” said Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels in a published Bloomberg interview. “The enormous competition in online advertising has made online ads more relevant, reduced ad tech fees, and expanded options for publishers and advertisers.”
In a public conference, antitrust Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter did not specially name Google or its parent company Alphabet when someone asked him about the advertising monopoly issues online.
Instead, Kanter said,“We have to bring cases to court. We don’t have the kind of ground rules that existed when antitrust was enforced with regularity…If we don’t use those muscles (the DOJ’s authority), they will start to weaken.”
Public reports of the DOJ conducting interviews with numerous publishers and their advertising experiences with Google are ongoing.
The DOJ is not alone in suing Google.
Texas filed a multi-state lawsuit against Google in 2020, with the state’s Attorney General accusing the company of implementing "monopolistic power to control" and abuse of their power in advertising pricing.
The Wall Street Journal and MLex investigations shared unredacted court documents that Google offered a special ad program called Project Bernanke that allegedly created a powerful competitive advantage over its rivals.
Allegedly, Google took data from its publishers' ad servers, then brought advertisers to the price they'd need to pay for ads. However, the company allegedly did not tell this to its clients, the publishers selling those ads.
Texas claims this is insider trading since Google would use data only available to it in order to undercut its advertising competitors while also paying their clients, such as publishers, a lower fee.
In Europe, regulators are officially investigating Google to determine if the company restricts competitor access to Google user data concerning advertising. The company is reportedly considering letting a rival advertising system run ads on YouTube, another massive Google product.
In 2021, numerous publishers such as The Daily Mail, The Nation, and others sued Google for allegedly creating a monopoly on online advertising.
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