US Department Of Justice Braces To Prosecute Google By September: Report

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  • The U.S. Justice Department prepared to prosecute Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google by September for illegally dominating the digital advertising market, Bloomberg reports.
  • Lawyers with the DOJ's antitrust division questioned publishers in another round of interviews to procure additional details for the complaint.
  • The Trump government-led scrutiny into Google's ad tech market dominance alleged exclusive distribution deals with wireless carriers and phone makers to thwart competition.
  • A group of state attorneys alleged Google of conspiring with Meta Platforms Inc META Facebook to manipulate the online auctions. It also became a subject of the DOJ investigation.
  • The probe would mark the DOJ's second case against Google following the government's 2020 antitrust lawsuit alleging dominance of the online search market.
  • "Our advertising technologies help websites and apps fund their content and enable small businesses to reach customers around the world," reasoned Google. 
  • "The enormous competition in online advertising has made online ads more relevant, reduced ad tech fees, and expanded options for publishers and advertisers."
  • Google controlled about 28.6% of the $211.2 billion in U.S. digital ad spending in 2021, according to eMarketer, while Facebook made up 23.8% and Amazon.com Inc AMZN 11.6%.
  • Apple Inc AAPL is also under investigation by the DOJ over the App Store competitiveness.
  • Price Action: GOOG shares traded higher by 0.29% at $121 in the premarket on the last check Thursday.
  • Photo by Firmbee via Pixabay
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