The Justice Division has in current weeks performed new interviews for its investigation into Google’s advert expertise, an indication it could be transferring nearer to submitting its second antitrust case in opposition to the corporate, mentioned three folks with data of the matter.
The Justice Division for greater than a yr has investigated whether or not Google abuses its dominance over the interlocking applied sciences that ship advertisements on-line. Its legal professionals are actually talking once more with publishers and Google’s opponents to assemble new materials, affirm proof and take a look at its authorized idea forward of a attainable lawsuit, mentioned the folks, who weren’t licensed to debate confidential issues.
A spokeswoman for the Justice Division didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. Bloomberg earlier reported the Justice Division conferences.
“The large competitors in internet marketing has made on-line advertisements extra related, lowered advert tech charges and expanded choices for publishers and advertisers,” mentioned Peter Schottenfels, a Google spokesman.
On Aug. 31, U.S. District Court docket of the Southern District of New York will hear Google’s movement to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit led by the State of Texas over the corporate’s advert tech practices. By ready for a ruling on that matter, Justice Division officers might see what a choose thinks of the antitrust claims earlier than continuing with a lawsuit of their very own, these folks mentioned.
Texas argues in its case that Google obtained and abused a monopoly over the digital promoting trade to control auctions and generate income far higher than these of rival advert exchanges. These are the identical points that the Justice Division has been investigating, mentioned folks accustomed to the investigation.
In 2020, the Justice Division filed a lawsuit arguing that Google had damaged antimonopoly legal guidelines by abusing its energy over on-line search. Later that yr, the attorneys basic of Texas and 9 different states filed their very own lawsuit targeted on Google’s management of the show advert tech ecosystem, which is utilized by publishers like information shops to promote advert area on their web sites.
This summer time, Google supplied to resolve the Justice Division inquiry by transferring its advert tech companies right into a separate unit below its father or mother firm, Alphabet, in accordance with an individual with data of the provide, which was earlier reported by The Wall Avenue Journal. However the authorities was very skeptical of the provide, the particular person mentioned.
Mr. Schottenfels mentioned that Google was “participating constructively with regulators to deal with their considerations” and “we’ve got no plans to promote or exit this enterprise.”
