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The The Department of Justice is about to sue Google from Alphabet Inc. for its majority dominance over the digital advertising market, reported Bloomberg News, citing people familiar with the matter.
The The lawsuit would be the second federal antitrust complaint filed against Google, alleging violations of antitrust law. in the way the tech giant acquires or maintains its dominance.
The DJustice Department lawsuit filed against Google in 2020 focuses on its monopoly on search and is scheduled to go to trial in September.
It is expected that the lawsuit targets Google’s advertising business, which corresponds to approximately 80% of their income.
In addition to its well-known search, which is free, Google generates revenue through its interconnected ad-tech businesses, which connect advertisers with newspapers, websites and other companies seeking to host them.
Advertisers and website publishers have complained that Google hasn’t been transparent about where ad dollars go, specifically how much goes to publishers and how much to Google.
The tech giant made a series of purchases, including DoubleClick in 2008 and AdMob in 2009, to help it become the dominant competitor in online advertising.
Google had previously argued that the ad tech ecosystem was competitive with Facebook, AT&T, Comcast and others. While Google remains the market leader by far, its share of US digital ad revenue has been eroding, falling from 36.7% in 2016 to 28.8% last year, according to Insider Intelligence.
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