Washington – The Department of Justice and a group of states have filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Virginia against Google, challenging certain competitive practices relating to Google’s digital advertising products. The complaint claims that Google dominates the product market for “publisher ad servers for open web display advertising.”
The Computer & Communications Industry Association has advocated for competition in the tech industry for more than 50 years, having aligned with the DOJ in past cases.
The following can be attributed to CCIA President Matt Schruers:
“Competition for advertising dollars is fierce both on and offline, growing even more so as the global ad market evolves with new competitors and technology. The governments’ contention that digital ads aren’t in competition with print, broadcast, and outdoor advertising defies reason.
“As an association that has supported government intervention in appropriate technology cases in the past, we find this lawsuit and the radical structural remedies that it proposes unjustified. Digital services are competing vigorously for advertising dollars on screens of all sizes, and the complaint appears to disregard these dynamics as well as the macrotrends of the global ad market.”