Is Google a monopoly? US DoJ begins second antitrust trial, this time targeting ad tech

The second-largest antitrust case of the century headed to trial Monday, with Google defending itself against claims that it has engaged in illegal behavior to maintain control of the ad tech market.

The US government is accusing Google of purposefully manipulating that market, snuffing out competitors and gobbling up key technologies through acquisitions. It is the tech giant’s second time in court for antitrust issues.

If the Department of Justice (DoJ) successfully makes its case during what is likely to be a long trial, Google risks being broken up by regulators.

A previous US antitrust lawsuit targeted Google’s search business, with an 8-month-long trial ending in defeat for the company. In August, Judge Amit Mehta ruled that the tech giant had engaged in anticompetitive behavior to protect its dominance, saying, “Google is a monopolist, and has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.” The penalties resulting from the ruling are as yet unclear.

‘Restoring competition’ to the internet

In the trial that began Monday, the DoJ will make its case that Google’s parent company, Alphabet, controls the majority of tools and technologies in the ad tech space.

The lawsuit was filed in 2023 by the DoJ and a coalition of eight states — California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Virginia — and seeks to “restore competition” and obtain “equitable and monetary relief” for the American public.

Specifically, Attorney General Merrick Garland has accused Google of:

• Acquiring competitors to obtain control of digital advertising tools used by website publishers;
• Controlling the technology used by nearly all major website publishers to offer ad space for sale.
• Controlling the leading tool used by advertisers to buy ad space.
• Controlling the largest ad exchange that matches publishers and advertisers.

The suit seeks to hold Google accountable for its “longstanding monopolies” in digital advertising, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, said in a statement. The complaint sets forth “detailed allegations” explaining how Google engaged in 15 years of sustained conduct that is “driving out rivals, diminishing competition, inflating advertising costs, reducing revenues for news publishers and content creators, snuffing out innovation and harming the exchange of information and ideas in the public sphere,” he contended.

The company earned more than $200 billion last year through ad placement and sales.

Google calls the suit a “flawed argument,” noting that the government “shouldn’t pick winners and losers in a competitive industry.”

Dan Taylor, Google’s VP for global ads, argued in a lengthy blog post that the company is “one of hundreds” that enable ad placement across the web. He called out similar actions of several of its competitors, including Microsoft, Amazon and Apple. 

Ultimately, he claimed that competition is actually increasing as more companies pump money into online ads.

“We’ve spent years building and investing in our advertising technology business to support a vibrant, open web,” Taylor wrote. “We will vigorously contest attempts to break tools that are working for publishers, advertisers and people across America.”