The U.S. Justice Department is preparing a second monopoly lawsuit against Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) over the internet search giant's digital advertising business.
The Justice Department already filed one lawsuit against Google and its advertising business in October 2020, accusing the $1 trillion U.S. company of illegally using its market dominance to hurt its rivals. A trial for the first lawsuit has been set for September 2023.
Google has said that its "advertising technologies help websites and apps fund their content, enable small businesses to grow, and protect users from exploitative privacy practices and bad ad experiences."
A lawsuit by 38 U.S. states and territories accuses Google of abusing its market power in an effort to make its search engine as dominant inside cars, TVs and speakers as it is on smartphones and computers. The state lawsuit has been consolidated with the federal lawsuit.
Texas, backed by other states, has filed a separate lawsuit against Google, accusing it of breaking antitrust law in how it runs its online advertising business.
Google’s plan to block a popular web tracking tool called "cookies" concerns U.S. Justice Department investigators who have been asking advertising industry executives whether that would harm smaller rivals.
It is this concern over the blocking of cookies that will form the basis of the second U.S. Justice Department lawsuit, according to multiple media reports.
