Google Kembali Ditutut Departemen Kehakiman AS Karena Dominasinya Di Pasar Adversi Digital

JAKARTA - The US Department of Justice is poised to sue Alphabet Inc's subsidiary Google as soon as Tuesday January 24 regarding its dominance over the digital advertising market. This threat was first reported by Bloomberg News on Monday, January 23, citing people familiar with the matter.

The lawsuit will be the second federal antitrust complaint filed against Google. They accused the antitrust law violation of how the tech giant gained or maintained its dominance.

The Justice Department lawsuit filed against Google in 2020 focuses on a monopoly in search and is scheduled for trial in September.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters, while Google declined to comment on the report.

The lawsuit is expected to target Google's advertising business, which is responsible for about 80% of its revenue. In addition to its famous search, which is free, Google generates revenue through its interconnected ad technology business, which connects advertisers with newspapers, websites, and other companies that wish to host them.

Advertisers and website publishers have complained that Google is not transparent about where ad money goes, in particular how much goes into publishers and how much goes to Google.

The tech giant made a series of purchases, including Double Click in 2008 and AdMob in 2009, to help it become the dominant player in online advertising. Google previously argued that the advertising technology ecosystem competed with Facebook Inc, AT&T, Comcast and others.

While Google remains a market leader in the long term, its share of US digital advertising revenue has been eroded, down from 36.7% in 2016 to 28.8% last year, according to Insider Intelligence.

But not only in the US, Google is facing a lawsuit against its dominance in advertising. In the European Union, Google has also been sanctioned by the European Union Commission for allegedly engaging in practices that are detrimental to competition in the online advertising business.

In India, Google has also been sued by the Competition Council for its alleged practice of harming competition in the online advertising business. Not only a matter of advertising, but Google also lost in a lawsuit in India because of its dominance in the Play Store app market in the country.

But until now, Google has never received a lawsuit in Indonesia regarding app or advertising issues. Google itself is a big technology company that has a big influence on the online advertising market in Indonesia, so it can lead to allegations of practices that harm competition in the online advertising business.