The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is seeking to break up Google’s digital advertising business as the tech giant faces a second court case.
In a second antitrust case, Google will face the DoJ in court next week about how the search giant monetises advertising through a system that prosecutors say harms news publishers.
“Journalism is under threat in large part due to consolidation in the advertising market,” Justice Department antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter said at an event held in June by the Open Markets Institute, an anti-monopoly advocacy group.
The case is part of the Biden administration’s effort to rein in Big Tech through antitrust law and follows a major win for the Justice Department in a separate lawsuit, which found that Google held an illegal monopoly on online search.
A coalition of US States, alongside the Justice Department will attempt to show that Google broke US antitrust law in its digital advertising businesses.
Winning the case would open the conversation for an order to be made to trigger the breakup of the company.
Antitrust regulators accuse Google of dominating the markets for the technology behind website ads by tying its tools for publishers and advertisers together, staking out a “privileged position as the middleman.”
Google has said it will focus on small businesses and publishers, some of which it plans to call as witnesses at trial.
The company claims that a breakup would “slow innovation, raise advertising fees, and make it harder” for small companies to grow.
The way Google viewed its ad tech will be a key focus at the trial, with potential testimony from more than two dozen current or former employees and executives, including YouTube Chief Executive Neal Mohan, a former Google advertising executive.
“Google is far and away the largest seller of advertising on earth. They touch every part of the industry, if not directly, then indirectly.
“Everyone has an interest in Google one way or another,” said Brian Wieser, a principal at US advertising and financial consultancy, Madison and Wall.
“Google faces further antitrust scrutiny in digital advertising probe” was originally created and published by Verdict, a GlobalData owned brand.
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