After CCI’s Penalty, Now US Sues Google Over Digital Ad Business Dominance: Report

Just a few days after the penalty imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) rocked Google, the company has now come under the scanner again. This time, the US Justice Department has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Alphabet’s Google. 

According to a Reuters report, the US Justice Department has sued Google over alleged dominance of its digital advertising business. “Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful means to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies,” Reuters quoted the government’s antitrust complaint. 

It also adds that the US Justice Department has asked the court to compel Google to divest its Google Ad manager suite and also its ad exchange AdX. Moreover, eight states have reportedly joined the US Justice Department in filing this lawsuit, including Google’s home state, California. 

Over the last couple of weeks, Google’s working practices and business has come under the scanner by different countries’ watchdogs. Of all these, the penalty levied by the CCI on Google became very famous, especially since the tech giant also challenged this at other levels. 

The report adds that the lawsuit is the second federal antitrust complaint filed against Google that alleges violation of antitrust law, especially in context of how the company acquires or maintains its dominance. Before this, even in 2020, the Justice Department reportedly filed a lawsuit against Google over its monopoly in search and the same is scheduled to go to trial in September.