Google Seeks to Throw Out Ad Tech Antitrust Case Before Trial

Leah Nylen, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- Alphabet Inc.’s Google asked a judge to toss the Justice Department’s lawsuit accusing it of monopolizing the technology used to buy and sell online advertising, arguing that the agency fabricated a market for the litigation but still failed to show that the tech giant controls at least 70% of it.

Google alleged that antitrust enforcers “made up markets specifically for this case” of display advertising shown on the open web. That leaves out important competitors like Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook and Instagram, Amazon.com Inc. and ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok, who all compete with the search giant to sell ads online or in their apps, the company said in a court filing Friday.

“There can be no serious claim that ad placement on mobile apps and social media should be excluded in market share calculations,” Google said in its motion seeking summary judgment, which would end the case without the need for a trial.

The Justice Department and a group of state attorneys general sued Google last year for allegedly monopolizing the market for online advertising technology. That case followed a separate lawsuit filed in 2020 by Texas and other states alleging similar antitrust violations.

Antitrust enforcers alleges that Google’s dominance over advertising technology allows it to keep at least $0.30 out of every dollar advertisers spend through its online advertising tools. The lawsuits allege Google has favored its own advertising tools by abusing access to information on rival bids for ad space, and also harmed other advertising exchanges by routing more bids for advertising to its own platforms.

In its filing, Google also said that even with the gerrymandered market definition, the company’s share didn’t meet the 70% threshold that courts in this part of the country have required for monopolization cases. The tech giant cited two previous cases it said found that a company needed to control at least 70% of the market to qualify as a monopoly. The Justice Department alleged in its complaint that Google controlled about 50% of the market for advertising exchanges, which are used to buy and sell online ads.

The case is US v Google, 23-108, US District Court, Eastern District of Virginia.