Commentary: Google is facing another crucial US court case – with potentially major consequences for online advertising

WHAT IS THIS CASE AGAINST GOOGLE ABOUT?

Because the trial is only just beginning, many aspects of the case are not yet known.

However, from court documents that have already been made public, we know the US Department of Justice is accusing Google of creating an anticompetitive monopoly over the online advertising markets. It says the tech giant has done this through long-running practices such as acquiring competitors and forcing website publishers to adopt Google’s tools.

These practices have led to the full vertical integration of Google in the online advertising industry. Google has effectively been acting as “buyer, seller, and auctioneer of digital display advertising”.

Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter says this has had – and continues to have – the effect of “driving out rivals, diminishing competition, inflating advertising costs, reducing revenues for news publishers and content creators, snuffing out innovation, and harming the exchange of information and ideas in the public sphere”.

The Department of Justice’s success will depend on proving its claims about the nature of online advertising markets and Google’s significant power over them.

The most difficult part for prosecutors will be persuading the court that Google has monopolised these markets by unlawfully excluding its rivals from competition.