Alphabet opens a new window. Google requested on Friday that a federal court in Virginia dismiss a case brought by the US government that charges the search and advertising behemoth of engaging in anticompetitive behavior in the online advertising space.
When the Justice Department brought the advertising action in January 2023, it claimed that the corporation should be made to sell its ad manager suite and accused it of exploiting its position in the digital advertising market.
In addition to contributing 12% of the company’s revenue in 2021, Google’s online advertising network—which includes ad manager—is essential to the search engine and cloud company’s entire sales.
On Friday, Google contended that the DOJ’s lawsuit had gone “beyond the boundaries of antitrust law,” claiming that it did not control the behavior of the concerned internet companies.
The government’s lawsuit, the company continued, was “doomed” since it targeted business decisions that “are lawful choices about whom to do business with and product improvements that benefited Google’s customers.”
The Justice Department did not want to respond.
In its initial 2023 lawsuit, the government said that “Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful means to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies.”
Approximately 75% of Google’s revenue comes from its advertising division.
In a federal court in Virginia, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema set a September trial date for the Justice Department’s case. The court might dismiss the matter altogether or limit its scope before it goes to trial. Summary judgment is a fact-based evaluation of a case’s merits that can be requested by either party.
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