Google’s Ad Empire Under Fire as US Antitrust Trial Begins
- Enforcers allege Alphabet unit monopolized ad technology tools
- Company denies wrongdoing, says markets are competitive
Justice Department antitrust lawyers say that Google, using its position as a middleman that controls the market from end to end.
Photographer: Gabby Jones/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google headed back to court Monday to face US Justice Department allegations that it manipulates the $677 billion display advertising market in violation of antitrust laws, just one month after losing a landmark ruling that it illegally dominates online search.
The US and a coalition of eight states accused Google of building up a “trifecta of monopolies” to lock up the technology behind website ads and harm publishers and advertisers — claims Google had denied.