Google Asks Judge to Dismiss Government’s Advertising Antitrust Case

Tech giant Google has reportedly asked a U.S. judge to reject a recent antitrust complaint filed against the company by the Department of Justice.

Bloomberg reports that Google has asked a U.S. judge to reject the DOJ’s antitrust complaint regarding its utter dominance of the digital advertising market. The business’s most recent action demonstrates its resolve to contest the lawsuit, which was brought earlier this year with the support of eight states. The case aims to dismantle Google’s ad-technology division, which is responsible for its revenue from display ads.

In the document it filed on Monday, Google argued that the lawsuit did not satisfy the legal requirements for a monopoly and did not take into account the company’s main rivals in the online advertising market. The business claimed that it is incorrect for the DOJ to portray Google’s business decisions over the previous 15 years as evidence of a plot to gain power and stifle competition. Additionally, it was asserted that the DOJ disregarded the customer interests and market dynamics that drive Google in a dynamic and multifaceted digital marketplace.

Dan Taylor, vice president of global advertising at Google, claimed in a previous statement that the DOJ’s lawsuit fails to adequately capture the dynamics of the online advertising market and ignores significant rivals like Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, and TikTok. Taylor stated that Google will continue to fight the lawsuit in court because it is “wrong on the facts and the law.”

Particularly in the Eastern District of Virginia, where the current lawsuit was filed, antitrust cases are rarely dismissed. Recent efforts by Google to have the case transferred to New York were unsuccessful. Google has disputed the Justice Department’s definition of the “digital advertising market,” which only focuses on advertisements that are displayed online, among other claims. Google claims that advertisements in apps and digital videos, are becoming important segments of the online ecosystem and should be included.

A separate lawsuit led by the state of Texas claims that Google rigged its ad bidding auctions in its own favor. As Breitbart News reported previously:

The secret operation known as “Project Bernanke” was not disclosed to publishers who sold ads through Google’s ad-buying systems. The project generated hundred of millions of dollars in revenue for the company every year according to the documents.

In its lawsuit, Texas claims that the project gave Google an unfair competitive advantage over rivals. The document was filed this week as part of Google’s initial response to the Texas-led antitrust lawsuit that was filed in December and accused Google of running a digital-ad monopoly, harming both ad-industry competitors and publishers.

The filing was examined by the Wall Street Journal and was not properly redacted when initially uploaded to the court’s public docket. Google has since been allowed to refile the documents under seal.

Read more at Bloomberg here.

Update — This article has been modified to differentiate between Google’s ad-tech business and its search ads business, which is not part of the government’s lawsuit.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan