Google Asks Judge To Dismiss Majority Of Class Action Claims

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Google Advertising Monopoly Class Action Lawsuit Overview: 

• Who: Google asked a New York federal judge to dismiss the majority of complaints lodged against the company by 17 attorneys generals.
• Why: Attorneys generals claim Google has monopolized the online display advertising market. 
• Where: The consolidated class action lawsuits are being heard in New York federal court.

Google has asked a New York federal judge to dismiss the majority of 17 attorney generals’ claims the company monopolized the online display advertising market. 

The attorneys general from 16 states and Puerto Rico claim in a December 2020 class action lawsuit that Google violates the Sherman Act by rigging the process for which ads are chosen to be displayed on websites. 

The complaint is one of around 20 monopoly suits brought against Google that were consolidated into a multidistrict litigation last year, Law360 reports. 

Google, meanwhile, argues that the attorneys general took too long to bring the Texas-led claims — with the last alleged anticompetitive conduct starting in April 2016 — and that they wouldn’t be able to get the injunctive relief they are asking for due to it already stopping the initiatives that are being targeted. 

“In their search for a federal antitrust claim, state plaintiffs reach back as far as 2009,” Google said in a motion. “The (third amended complaint) admits that much of that conduct is not only out-of-date but, at the time it occurred, was well-publicized to and well-known by Google’s publisher and advertiser customers and its competitors.”

The attorneys general three-times-amended class action lawsuit claims Google rigs what is known as an ad exchange auction to favor themselves, since it owns the largest brokers, and also unlawfully makes it a condition that access to its ad exchange can only be gained through its ad servers, the class action lawsuit alleges. 

Google Being Punished For Its Own Success, Company Argues

Google, however, argues the attorneys general are simply attempting to punish them for being successful.

“State plaintiffs respond to Google’s success by seeking to compel Google to share with its competitors the fruits of its investments and innovation,” Google said in a motion. “They see the ‘solution’ to Google’s success as holding Google back rather than letting market forces urge its competitors forward. Given the fundamentally misguided aim of state plaintiffs’ complaint, it is not surprising that they are unable to state a plausible claim under the Sherman Act.”

The attorneys general also claim Google made a deal with Facebook for the social networking company to abandon its own bidding method; however, the company argues the complaint doesn’t allege the social media company made an agreement to abandon it, rather just that it decided it was in its best interest to. 

Also this month, trial was set for January 2023 to hear claims that Google monopolized its Android Play Store. 

Do you believe Google has monopolized the online display advertising market? Let us know in the comments! 

The states are represented by their respective attorneys general, Keller Lenkner LLC, The Lanier Law Firm and The Dugan Law Firm APLC.

The Google Advertising Monopoly Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Google Digital Advertising Antitrust Litigation, Case No: 1:21-md03010, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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