Today marks the beginning of an important antitrust trial against Google, which will unfold in a federal district court in Alexandria, Virginia. The trial, overseen by US District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema, is set to dive into serious allegations against Google for allegedly abusing its power to dominate various aspects of the online advertising industry.
This legal battle is the result of a lawsuit filed by the Biden administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) in January 2023. With support from 17 state attorneys general, the case claims that Google has broken antitrust laws to monopolise the digital advertising market. As Eleanor Fox, a professor at New York University Law School, points out, “This is a pivotal case for both sides.”
The trial comes on the heels of a recent setback for Google. Just a month ago, US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google had unlawfully monopolised the general search engine and search advertising markets. That ruling, which Google plans to appeal, was also a product of DOJ’s efforts, though it was initiated during Donald Trump’s presidency.
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In the new case, the government accuses Google of using anti-competitive practices to gain control over critical components of the ad tech industry. These include ad servers, ad exchanges, and ad networks.
Central to the case is the accusation that Google initially entered the digital ad market by leveraging its dominant search engine. Over time, Google expanded its influence by acquiring competitors. In 2000, Google launched Google Ads (originally known as AdWords), allowing advertisers to purchase space on Google’s search results pages. Later, Google introduced a service enabling ads on third-party sites.
Also read: UK watchdog accuses Google of anti-competitive practices in online ad market
According to the Justice Department, Google then constructed a “moat” around the ad tech industry by creating a specialised ad server for publishers. This strategy likely allowed Google to control both sides of the ad ecosystem, giving it a powerful intermediary role from which it could extract significant profits.
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