Google Might Reportedly Face Antitrust Lawsuit Filed by DoJ in Weeks

A Google spokesperson told Reuters on Friday that it was engaging with regulators to address their concerns.

By Reuters | Updated: 14 July 2022 22:36 IST

Google Might Reportedly Face Antitrust Lawsuit Filed by DoJ in Weeks

Google was sued by the Justice Department in October 2020

Highlights

DoJ did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment
The Justice Department is likely to reject concessions offered by Google
The DoJ has been investigating Google's ad-tech practices since 2019

The US Department of Justice is expected to file an antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet's Google in weeks over its dominance in the online advertising market, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.The Justice Department is likely to reject concessions offered by [Alphabet](https://www.gadgets360.com/tags/alphabet), the [report]([https://bit.ly/3aDfNTL](https://bit.ly/3aDfNTL) said.DoJ did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment and [Google](https://www.gadgets360.com/google) declined to comment.Last week, the Wall Street Journal [reported](https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-offers-concessions-to-fend-off-u-s-antitrust-lawsuit-11657296591) that Google has offered concessions to avoid a potential US antitrust lawsuit, including a proposal to spin off parts of its business that auctions and places ads on websites and apps into a separate company under Alphabet.However, a Google spokesperson told Reuters on Friday that it was engaging with regulators to address their concerns, adding that it has no plans to sell or exit the ad-tech business.The DoJ has been investigating Google's ad-tech practices since 2019 and expedited the inquiry into the advertising market in recent months under the supervision of antitrust division's official Doha Mekki, the report said.The Justice Department sued Google in October 2020, accusing the company of illegally using its market muscle to hobble rivals, in the biggest challenge to the power and influence of [Big Tech](https://www.gadgets360.com/tags/big-tech) in decades.In June end, Alphabet unit Google was [targeted](https://www.gadgets360.com/internet/news/google-fresh-complaints-eu-consumer-groups-privacy-3113470) by a French consumer group and its peers in complaints to privacy watchdogs over its vast trove of users' personal data harvested via their Google accounts, European consumer organisation BEUC said.In addition to the French consumer group, others in Greece, the Czech Republic, Norway and Slovenia have taken their gripes to their data protection authorities, BEUC said.It said the German consumer body had sent a warning letter to [Google](https://www.gadgets360.com/google) that could lead to a civil lawsuit, while consumer agencies in the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden had written to their privacy regulators alerting them about Google's practices.* * *

_We discuss the best of Google I/O 2022 on [Orbital](https://www.gadgets360.com/tags/orbital), the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/1TQIHsTESxrsHleJVhUKcr), [Gaana](https://pricee.com/api/redirect/t.php?from=gadgets360&redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fgaana.com%2Fpodcast%2Forbital-season-1%29%2C [JioSaavn](https://pricee.com/api/redirect/t.php?from=gadgets360&redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jiosaavn.com%2Fshows%2Forbital%2F1%2Fr9VmNAJ211U%29%2C [Google Podcasts](https://pricee.com/api/redirect/t.php?from=gadgets360&redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fpodcasts.google.com%2Ffeed%2FaHR0cHM6Ly9jZG4uZ2FkZ2V0czM2MC5jb20vY29udGVudC9kYXRhL3htbC9vcmJpdGFsLnhtbA%29%2C [Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/in/podcast/orbital-gadgets-360-podcast/id1121036073), [Amazon Music](https://pricee.com/api/redirect/t.php?from=gadgets360&redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fmusic.amazon.in%2Fpodcasts%2Fe3a8ca64-3005-4427-a89e-b3e8ec828c3b%2FOrbital%29 and wherever you get your podcasts._

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.