On behalf of small business clients, Girard Sharp on May 27 filed the first class action lawsuit against Google for acquiring and maintaining a monopoly in digital advertising markets. The firm filed a first amended complaint on December 4.
Plaintiffs allege that Google engages in illegal monopolistic behavior in the market for digital advertising services. Google leverages its monopoly power in online search and search advertising to maintain a dominant position across the broader digital advertising market, harming publishers and advertisers alike.
Plaintiffs further allege that Google deployed such anticompetitive tactics as mergers to monopolize, withholding of data, and denial of interoperability to drive out ad-tech competitors. Google’s monopoly conduct has made it nearly impossible for publishers and advertisers in the market for display advertising to do business except through Google.
More details are available in the operative complaint.
