Bloomberg: US Justice wants to sue Google over advertising market position

The US Department of Justice wants to file a lawsuit against Google for its alleged monopoly position in the online advertising market. Bloomberg writes this on Tuesday based on information from insiders.

The ministry is still preparing the indictment, which has been in the works since last year and is said to be filed next month. In addition, the ministry’s lawyers are said to be conducting new discussions with publishers about the advertising market, which should provide additional details, three involved say to Bloomberg.

Google has declined to comment substantively on the message to Bloomberg, but denies that it abused its position. “Our ad technologies help websites and apps fund their content and enable small businesses to reach customers around the world,” said a Google spokesperson.

If the sources’ information is correct, this will be the US Justice Department’s second competition case against Google. In 2020, the ministry sued the company for its alleged abuse of its monopoly position in the search and advertising market. This includes the fact that Google makes billions from online advertising, and that Google uses that money to become the default search engine on mobile phones and in browsers. The indictment also concerns the fact that Google’s search application is included by default on all Android phones and that it cannot be removed.