Security News > 2023 > January > U.S. sues Google for abusing dominance over online ad market
The U.S. Justice Department has filed a federal lawsuit today against Google for abusing its dominant position in the online advertising market.
The U.S. government alleges that Google used acquisitions of other companies in the ad market to remove competitors and forced advertisers and publishers to use its services using its control over the ad tech services.
Google now has control over the tech used by most major web publishers to sell ad space, the tools advertisers use to buy the advertising space, and the most significant ad exchange designed to match advertisers and publishers when ad space is sold.
"Order the divestiture of, at minimum, the Google Ad Manager suite, including both Google's publisher ad server, DFP, and Google's ad exchange, AdX, along with any additional structural relief as needed to cure any anticompetitive harm," the lawsuit asks.
This is not the first time Google has been accused of abusing its dominant rank in the online ad market.
Google was fined €4.34 billion four years ago, in July 2018, for using its control over the Android OS to increase its search engine's dominance over the mobile advertising market.