Google's lucrative ad business could be on the DOJ's chopping block for anti-competitive business practices: "No one is forced to use our advertising technologies, they use them because they're effective"

Google logo is seen on a smartphone and United States Department of Justice (DOJ) logo on a pc screen.
(Image credit: Getty Images | LightRocket)

What you need to know

  • After being deemed a monopolist in search, Google is back in the corridors fighting a new antitrust case — this time targeting its dominance in digital advertising.
  • The US DOJ and 17 states have filed an antitrust case against Google, citing anticompetitive business practices and unlawful behavior.
  • Experts and analysts predict that the Justice Department may face issues establishing a legal ground for the case while referring to ad business as "complex."

It's been over a month since Google's search engine was deemed a monopoly in an antitrust ruling. And now, the tech giant is back in court fighting a separate antitrust case that could potentially change its entire advertising business.

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and 17 states claim that Google has leveraged its dominance to monopolize digital advertising, leaving competitors with the shorter end of the stick in the category. According to the DOJ, "Google has caused great harm to online publishers and advertisers and American consumers."

The antitrust case is slated to begin this Monday. The DOJ will attempt to demonstrate Google's 'illegal' monopoly in advertising. For context, Google generated approximately $200 billion in ad revenue.

Google has cited the effectiveness of its services as the secret ingredient to its immense success in the category. "No one is forced to use our advertising technologies – they choose to use them because they're effective," Google added

Google has bigger fish to fry beyond the monopolist antitrust ruling

Google logo (Image credit: Future)

While it's still early to determine the case's outcome, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) claims Google is abusing its dominance to gain the edge and competitive advantage over its competitors. The regulator claims that the tech giant leverages anti-competitive business practices and unlawful behavior to assert its dominance in the ad business.

Speaking to BBC, an antitrust professor at Vanderbilt University Law School claims it might be an uphill task to establish a legal ground to base its case. The advertising business is "so complex that I think that's going to be a real challenge for the government to make a clear, simple monopolization argument here."

While commenting on the issue, a Google spokesman referred to the antitrust case targeting its ad business as a flawed understanding of the ad sector. Last year, Google highlighted the exponential growth in the ad business with endless opportunities for its competitors while citing Apple, Amazon, and TikTok's recent success in the category.

Elsewhere, as regulators reign down on Google's anti-competitive business practices, the company faces greater challenges from fast-rising competitors in search, especially OpenAI's temporary prototype search tool - SearchGPT.

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Kevin Okemwa
Contributor

Kevin Okemwa is a seasoned tech journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya with lots of experience covering the latest trends and developments in the industry at Windows Central. With a passion for innovation and a keen eye for detail, he has written for leading publications such as OnMSFT, MakeUseOf, and Windows Report, providing insightful analysis and breaking news on everything revolving around the Microsoft ecosystem. You'll also catch him occasionally contributing at iMore about Apple and AI. While AFK and not busy following the ever-emerging trends in tech, you can find him exploring the world or listening to music.

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  • jlzimmerman
    Good. I hope YouTube is included. I'm getting four and sometimes five unskippable ads now. Rediculous.
    Reply
  • HelloNNNewman
    jlzimmerman said:
    Good. I hope YouTube is included. I'm getting four and sometimes five unskippable ads now. Rediculous.
    Just a hint in the meantime: Try using the Brave Browser for watching YouTube stuff. That's what I use anytime I'm on YouTube because it kills all of the ads in videos. I use it specifically for that website and installed it on my phone with the homepage set to YT as my default for those vids. There are some channels I'm subscribed to that I nearly unsubscribed to because of the number of ads inserted, but if I use Brave for watching - no more ads.
    Reply