A judge in the United States has ruled that Google can be sued for its advertising monopoly.
In Alexandria, Virginia, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema has dismissed Google’s attempt to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the company holds a monopoly on the sale of online advertising. The case claims that Google has engaged in a campaign to take control of the various high-tech tools used by publishers, advertisers, and brokers to facilitate digital advertising, corrupting legitimate competition in the ad tech industry.
Google argued that the lawsuit should be dismissed because the US government’s definition of its alleged monopoly is too narrow, and that advertisers have the ability to advertise on major social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok, which have their own independent advertising platforms.
The court’s definition of the market in which Google allegedly holds a monopoly will be crucial in deciding the outcome of the case. At this preliminary stage, however, Judge Brinkema deemed the government’s allegations plausible enough for the case to proceed, while noting that the burden of proof will increase for the government during the trial.
During the hearing, Judge Brinkema emphasized that the government’s burden of proof will become more significant during the trial.
In response to the ruling, Dan Taylor, Google’s Vice President of Global Ads, released a statement arguing that the lawsuit “fails to acknowledge the reality of today’s ever-evolving digital advertising industry, where we compete with hundreds of companies such as Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and TikTok.”
Furthermore, several states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Virginia, have also joined the case against Google as plaintiffs.
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