The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a lawsuit against Google for its advertising practices. Dan Taylor, Vice President of Global Ads at Google revealed this in a statement adding that the DOJ is trying to pick “winners and losers” in the advertising technology industry. He argues that the lawsuit is similar to one that was recently dismissed by a federal court and that it would slow innovation, increase advertising fees and make it harder for small businesses and publishers to grow.
The DOJ is asking Google to reverse age old acquisitions of AdMeld and DoubleClick which were approved by regulators 12 and 15 years ago, respectively. While Taylor believes that these acquisitions have allowed Google to invest in new and innovative advertising technologies and that competition in the industry has only increased since then, the DOJ is of the opinion that Google is trying to be buyer, seller and auctioneer of digital display advertising all at once. In response, Taylor goes all out in his statement naming companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and TikTok stating that they have also entered and invested in building their advertising businesses.
Arguing that Google’s advertising technologies help publishers make money and make it easy for businesses to reach consumers through cost-effective digital advertising, Taylor clarifies that no one is forced to use Google’s technologies and that publishers and advertisers typically work with multiple technologies simultaneously. He concludes that this lawsuit would make it harder for Google to offer efficient advertising tools and would have the opposite effect of reducing prices and expanding choice for the American people. Meanwhile, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Google controls the technology used by major website publishers to offer advertising space for sale which results in website creators earning less and advertisers paying more.
It’s worth mentioning that this statement comes amid a slew of high-profile layoffs in big tech companies, Google being one of them.
