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.'
Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni introduce Phia, a fashion tech startup that helps users find price comparisons and discover alternative options for apparel
Universal Music Group and AI platform Udio have settled a copyright lawsuit and will collaborate on a new music creation and streaming platform. The companies announced on Wednesday that they reached a compensatory legal settlement and new licensing agreements. These agreements aim to provide more revenue opportunities for Universal's artists and songwriters. The rise of AI song generation tools like Udio has disrupted the music streaming industry, leading to accusations from record labels. This deal marks the first since Universal and others sued Udio and Suno last year. Financial terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.
Microsoft says users of its Azure cloud portal may be not be able to access Office 365, Minecraft or other services due to issues with its global content delivery network services. The tech company posted a note to its Azure status page that its teams are currently deploying a fix to address the outage.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
A new poll finds that as the United States rapidly builds massive data centers for the development of artificial intelligence, many Americans are concerned about the environmental impact.
Brain.fm merges music and neuroscience to enhance focus, creativity, and mental health—Dr. Kevin Woods reveals how sound is transforming cognitive performance.
An internet outage on Monday morning highlights the reliance on Amazon's cloud services. This incident reveals vulnerabilities in the concentrated system. Cloud computing allows companies to rent Amazon's infrastructure instead of building their own. Amazon leads the market, followed by Google and Microsoft. The outage originated in Northern Virginia, the biggest and oldest cloud hub in the U.S. This region handles significantly more data than other hubs. Despite the idea of spreading workloads, many rely on this single hub. The demand for computing power, especially for AI, is driving a construction boom for data centers.
Ashley Fieglein Johnson, CFO & President at Planet, joins us to share the story behind the Owl launch—and how strategy, tech, and vision are fueling liftoff.
OpenAI has announced that ChatGPT will soon engage in "erotica for verified adults." CEO Sam Altman says the company aims to allow more user freedom for adults while setting limits for teens. OpenAI isn't the first to explore sexualized AI, but previous attempts have faced legal and societal challenges. Altman believes OpenAI isn't the "moral police" and wants to differentiate content similar to how Hollywood differentiates R-rated movies. This move could help OpenAI, which is losing money, turn a profit. However, experts express concerns about the impact on real-world relationships and the potential for misuse.
