The US Justice Department is ready to sue Alphabet Inc Google on Tuesday about the search giant’s dominance of the digital advertising market, according to people familiar with the matter.
The case is expected to be filed in federal court before the end of the week, said the people, who asked not to be named citing a confidential matter.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Google declined to comment.
The lawsuit will mark the Justice Department’s second monopoly case against the company, which is No.
The case is also the fifth major US lawsuit challenging the company’s business practices. State attorneys have filed three separate lawsuits against Google, alleging that it dominates the markets for online search, advertising technology and apps on the Android mobile platform in violation of laws of antitrust.
The Mountain View, California-based company is the No. 1 of the $626.86 billion global digital ad market, according to 2023 estimates by research firm EMarketer, with the US representing the largest piece. Alphabet’s ad operations are expected to bring in $73.8 billion in digital ad revenue in the US by 2023. Google runs an ad-buying service for marketers and an ad-selling service for publishers, as well as a trade exchange where both sides complete transactions in lightning-fast auctions.
Google argues that the market for online advertising is a crowded and competitive one. In court filings and congressional testimony, the company noted that its rivals include other major players in the ad tech market such as Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platform Inc. and Microsoft corp.
The department’s investigation into Google’s control of the ad tech market has returned to the Trump administration. The DOJ under former Attorney General William Barr sued Google over its search business instead, saying the company used exclusive distribution deals with wireless carriers and phone makers to the competition will be locked. that the case is there to go to trial in September.
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