US Department of Justice wants to break up Google

The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Google, demanding the company be broken up. According to the ministry, Google should divest Ad Manager and AdX.

The ministry says in the complaint that Google has a monopoly position in the field of online advertising and abuses that position in many ways. The ministry points to Project Bell, among other things, with which Google lowered advertisers’ bids without permission from publications if they had entered into a partnership with a competitor. The ministry points to many more similar practices that indicate abuse of power.

According to The Wall Street Journal it is a part of Google that generated 12 percent of the company’s turnover in 2021. The ad server for publications had a market share of 90 percent in 2015 and is therefore much larger than its closest competition.

Google denies the accusations and says that competition has actually increased. For example, Netflix joined forces with Microsoft last year to sell advertisements in its subscription form with ads. The Department of Justice has requested a jury trial. Such a case can take months or years.