In the United States, an earlier antitrust lawsuit targeted Google’s search business, and the eight-month trial ended in a defeat for the company. In August, Judge Amit Mehta ruled that the tech giant had engaged in anticompetitive conduct to protect its dominance, saying that “Google is a monopolist and has acted as such to maintain its monopoly.” The penalties resulting from the ruling are still unclear.
'Restoring competition' on the Internet
In the trial that began Monday, the Justice Department will argue that Google's parent company, Alphabet, controls most of the tools and technologies in the advertising technology space.
The lawsuit was filed in 2023 by the Department of Justice and a coalition of eight states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Virginia) and seeks to “restore competition” and obtain “equitable and monetary relief” for the American public.