What you need to know
- Alphabet has asked a US federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit filed by DOJ.
- In a court filing earlier this week, Google asked for a hearing on its motion to dismiss.
- DOJ filed a lawsuit earlier this year over Google’s practices in its ad tech business.
Google isn’t the first time it’s been sued by the US government, whether it’s the Federal Trade Commission or a state. In most cases, such lawsuits result in Google agreeing to settle them by paying millions of dollars. There are other examples of Google’s return to plaintiffs. One such incident occurred earlier this week.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has requested the dismissal of a US antitrust lawsuit over Google’s dominance in the online advertising market, according to Reuters.
The US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Google in January, for those who don’t know. The lawsuit alleges that Google maintains its market dominance in digital advertising by engaging in anti-competitive conduct. In response, Google said the lawsuit was unjust and would undo years of innovation.
In a new court filing filed by the company earlier this week, Alphabet said Google has cooperated with the U.S. by providing dozens of documents and witnesses as evidence of its investigation over the past three years.
“In more than three years of investigating Google’s ad tech business, the United States has received more than two million documents from Google and conducted more than 30 depositions of Google witnesses,” the company said.
“However, plaintiffs remain unable to find support for the antitrust damages they claim.”
Additionally, in a lawsuit filed in January of this year, Google not only failed to define the online advertising market, but also found that its claimed market power of “50% or more” fell below the market dominance threshold. and should be dismissed immediately. Furthermore, the search giant argues that it would be unfair for the US to exclude competitors such as Meta, which also hold a very important position in the digital advertising market.
The Reuters report also indicates that Google has asked a hearing to dismiss the lawsuit against federal judge Leonie Brinkema for the Eastern District of Virginia.
This isn’t the first time (and probably won’t be the last) that Google has faced scrutiny of its digital ad tech business, and it’s not entirely tied to the US market. Last year, the UK Competition and Markets Authority investigated Google for antitrust violations in digital advertising technology. Google responded to his Android Central as follows:
“Google and many of our competitors’ advertising tools help websites and apps fund content and effectively reach customers of all sizes.”
