Charleston, WV (WOAY) – Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has joined bipartisan colleagues from 16 states in a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against Google for allegedly monopolizing multiple digital advertising technology products. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and alleges Google monopolizes key digital advertising technologies, or “ad tech stack,” that website publishers depend on to sell ads and advertisers rely on to buy ads to reach potential customers. Morrisey states, “We believe in a free market and this lawsuit is seeking to bring back digital advertising competition, a key element for consumers to make educated and rational decisions,” further saying“A healthy free-market economy thrives on competition not in monopoly.”
The complaint alleges that over the past 15 years, Google has engaged in a course of anticompetitive and exclusionary behaviors that neutralized or eliminated ad tech competitors through acquisitions. The coalition reports the company’s practices wielded its dominance across digital advertising markets to force more publishers and advertisers to use its products which thwarted the ability to use competing products.
