The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday joined attorneys general from several states in filing an antitrust lawsuit against Google parent Alphabet. The complaint alleges that the company has monopolized key digital advertising technologies that website publishers and online advertisers rely on for their basic economic survival.
“Today’s complaint alleges that Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful conduct to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.
The complaint outlines anti-competitive practices over a 15 year period. Per a DOJ press release, these include:
“In pursuit of outsized profits, Google has caused great harm to online publishers and advertisers and American consumers," said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. "This lawsuit marks an important milestone in the Department’s efforts to hold big technology companies accountable for violations of the antitrust laws.”
This isn't the first time the Justice Department has taken aim at Google. The department filed a civil lawsuit in 2020 against its monopoly practices in search and search advertising.
Correction: Changed day from 'Wednesday' to 'Tuesday.'
A Spanish government minister tells The Associated Press that Spain has sent a message with its recent crackdown on Airbnb.
President Donald Trump wants his “big, beautiful” bill of tax breaks and spending cuts on his desk to be singed into law by Independence Day. And he’s pushing the slow-rolling Senate to make it happen sooner rather than later. Trump met with Senate Majority Leader John Thune at the White House early this week and has been dialing senators for one-on-one chats, using both the carrot and stick to encourage them to act. But it’s still a long road ahead for the bill. Senators want to make changes to protect Medicaid and to make sure some tax breaks become permanent. Elon Musk called the whole bill a "disgusting abomination.”
The explosive growth of the data centers is eliciting some pushback.
The fate and fortunes of one of the world’s most powerful tech companies is now in the hands of a U.S. judge.
Wrench attacks, where crypto investors are hit with wrenches to give up passwords, are on the rise.
SpaceX has launched its Starship mega rocket again after back-to-back explosions.
A second cryptocurrency investor has surrendered to police in the alleged kidnapping and torture of a man inside an upscale Manhattan townhouse.
Salesforce is buying AI-powered cloud data management company Informatica in an approximately $8 billion deal.
For Novak Djokovic, this is a relatively easy call. He thinks the French Open is making a mistake by eschewing the electronic line-calling used at most big tennis tournaments and instead remaining old school by letting line judges decide whether serves or other shots land in or out.
A federal judge in Florida has rejected arguments made by an artificial intelligence company that its chatbots are protected by the First Amendment — at least for now.
