Google Asks Court To Reject US Government Lawsuits On Anti-Competitive Practices

Illustration of Google ADs (photo: x @GoogleAds)

JAKARTA - Google, represented by Alphabet Inc's, on Friday 26 April, asked the federal court in Virginia to reject the US government's lawsuit accusing the online advertising and search giant of anti-competitive practices in the online advertising market.

The Justice Department, which filed an advertising lawsuit in January 2023, accused the company of abusing its dominance in the digital advertising business and arguing that it should be forced to sell their ad management suite.

Google's online advertising network, which includes ad managers, accounts for 12% of the company's revenue by 2021 and also plays an important role in the sale of the entire search engine and cloud provider company.

Google argued on Friday that the DOJ case exceeded "antitrust legal boundaries," and said it did not regulate the behavior of the debated internet company.

The company added that the government's case was "exposed to failure" because it attacked business action "is a legitimate choice of who is doing business and an improvement in products that benefit Google subscribers."

The US Department of Justice itself declined to comment on Google's statement.

The government's original complaint in 2023 states "Google has used anti-competitive, exclusive, and illegal methods to eliminate or greatly reduce threats to its dominance of digital advertising technology."

Google's advertising business is responsible for about three-quarters of its revenue.

The judge of the United States District Court, Leonie Brinkema, in Virginia federal court has scheduled a hearing in the Justice Department case in September 2024. The judge has the power to narrow the scope of the lawsuit before the trial or completely reject the case. Both sides can seek a court ruling, a fact-based review of the substance of a case.

Google separately faces a hearing in March 2025 in Texas federal court in a lawsuit filed by Texas and other states accusing it of abusing the dominance of digital advertising.