Google, a division of Alphabet Inc., requested that a judge dismiss the Justice Department’s lawsuit against it, alleging that the company monopolizes the technology used to purchase and sell online advertising.
Google claimed that the agency created a fake market for the lawsuit but was unable to provide evidence that the internet giant owns at least 70% of the market.
Lawsuit To Be Dropped
Google said that markets were “made up specifically for this case” of display advertising on the public internet by antitrust authorities.
This excludes significant rivals like Amazon.com Inc., ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok, and Facebook and Instagram from Meta Platforms Inc., all of which compete with the search giant for online or in-app ad sales, the business stated in a court filing on Friday.
Google has requested that the Department of Justice’s ad tech antitrust lawsuit be dropped.
Recall that in January 2023, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against Google. Google was charged with using “anticompetitive and exclusionary conduct” to monopolize digital advertising technologies. The trial in this case is set for September of this year.
Before that time arrives, Google is working to have it removed. If Google’s motion is beneficial to the corporation, that is yet to be determined.
Since the lawsuit’s announcement, Google “has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful conduct to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies,” according to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.
Boundaries Of Anti-Trust Law
According to the claim, Google has extensive control over digital advertising technologies. Google “pockets more than 30 percent of the advertising dollars that flow through its digital advertising technology products on average,” according to the statement.
Why does that matter? Well, the cutoff point for being considered a monopoly used to be 70% of the market. Furthermore, according to Google, the DOJ’s lawsuit “beyond the boundaries of antitrust law.”
Whether Google is able to get the case dismissed is a matter of opinion, but the likelihood is low. The court date has already been set, and it seems strange that Google took so long to take action. It is yet to be determined.
