The antitrust trial of the United States v. Google

September 9, 2024 marks the start of the antitrust trial United States v. Google. This follows closely on the heels of the landmark antitrust case in which S District Court Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google "is a monopolist and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.".

In this antitrust case, Google is accused of illegally monopolizing the $700B+ digital advertising industry by virtue of owning the dominant service for advertisers buying ads, the dominant service for publishers selling ads and the dominant exchange where bids are awarded. As the evidence will show, Google has systematically abused its dominant position through acquisitions and anticompetitive behavior to protect its monopoly, suppress competition and maintain their unique ability to collect a treasure trove of data about consumers. As a result, Google exerts outsized control over where revenue flows with dire impacts on journalism. The Department of Justice is rightly seeking to break up this monopoly in order to increase competition and innovation for advertisers, publishers and consumers.

We've partnered with CheckMyAds and other industry organizations to create a site that offers a wide range of resources to provide background on the case itself as well as regular trial updates. We also created an informational video in an effort to provide clarity and transparency in the digital advertising marketplace (in support of the AMERICA Act), which illustrates and explain some of the complexities in the digital advertising ecosystem that will be central to this trial.