The Justice Department and states including California, New York, Colorado and Virginia filed a lawsuit against Google, alleging that the search and advertising behemoth illegally monopolized the market for online ads, dealing with itself, Anti-competitive acquisitions and forced businesses to use Offers a range of products and services.
The suit could lead to the breakup of Google’s massive advertising business, but any resolution is likely years away.
This is just the latest in a flood of antitrust lawsuits against Google. This is the DOJ’s second case, and the second case targeting its advertising business. The DOJ and a group of state attorneys general sued Google over its dominance in web searches in October 2020, and a group of state attorneys general led by Texas challenged its advertising business later that year. Yet another case was filed last year by a Utah-led group over Google Play, its mobile app store.