The US Justice Department on Tuesday has sued Google for its dominance of the online advertising market, launching a fresh legal battle against the tech giant over its world-leading search engine.
Google is accused of “unlawfully maintaining monopolies” in the market for online advertising, search advertising and other activities linked to Google’s search engine.
The fresh complaint significantly escalates the risks to Google emanating from Washington, where lawmakers and regulators have frequently raised concerns about the tech giant’s power but have so far failed to pass new legislation or regulations that might rein in the company.
Google, the US government alleged, “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. 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.”
The suit was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.