4 Private Publishers, 38 State Attorneys General File New Antitrust Lawsuits Against Google

Google is again facing new lawsuits allegedly for monopolizing digital ad sales. Around 38 attorneys general and 4 private publishers filed complaints against the tech giant for allegedly violating the Sherman Act by crushing its competitors and manipulating search results in favor of their products and services. Google, meanwhile, responded to the lawsuit by saying that the complaints were “meritless” and that they will “strongly defend ourselves from his baseless claims in court.”

Read: Justice Department’s Antitrust Case Against Google

Fox Business: The complaint accuses Google of making it nearly impossible for publishers to do business with smaller advertisers that compete with Google

Screenshot from Fox Business

Several private publishers filed two antitrust lawsuits against Google this week as the company comes under increasing scrutiny over its advertising and search practices, Fox Business reports.

Sweepstakes Today is one of four companies that filed two private lawsuits, which Reuters published online, against Google, alleging that the tech giant has violated the Sherman Act by displaying monopolistic behavior through its digital ad sales.

The complaint also accuses Google of making it nearly impossible for publishers to do business with smaller advertisers that compete with Google.

At the same time, dozens of state attorneys general and the Justice Department also filed two separate antitrust complaints, led by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, respectively, against the tech giant on Thursday and Wednesday, respectively.

Screenshot from Tony Romm's Twitter

Google’s Antitrust Cases: A Guide for the Perplexed: Wired

Why, instead of just one, are there all these different cases against Google? 

The easiest explanation is that in many countries, Google has a dominant position. This opens it up to multiple attack lines that don’t all fall into the same lawsuit. In search and search ads, two of the cases concentrate on Google’s monopoly; the third focuses on its control over what you may call non-search advertising. 
The first lawsuit was filed by the US Department of Justice in October, joined by the Republican State AGs…