Biden Must Build on State AGs’ Case Against Google Monopoly Over Online Advertising
Lawsuit makes clear how Google threatens free speech and democracy, highlights need for structural separation and nondiscrimination rules
WASHINGTON – Earlier today, 10 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against Google for using exclusionary and anti-competitive practices to build and maintain monopoly power in multiple digital advertising markets.
In response, Sally Hubbard, director of enforcement strategy at Open Markets Institute, issued the following statement:
“The state attorneys general make strong allegations against Google for illegally monopolizing several digital advertising markets in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act. Google's power over the entire ad-tech stack, including the buyer side, the seller side, and the exchange itself, amounts to insider trading and should should not be tolerated. The complaint’s allegations of an illegal agreement with Facebook to restrain trade, though heavily redacted, indicate that Google may have violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act, as well.
“While the states seek divestiture, Congress should pass legislation to structurally separate digital platforms, akin to the Glass-Steagall Act, as called for by Chairman David Cicilline’s House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust’s Big Tech report.”
In response, Barry Lynn, executive director of the Open Markets Institute, issued the following response:
“As this case makes starkly clear, Google and Facebook pose an extreme and growing threat to American democracy. The case provides more than ample evidence that these two corporations colluded to capture a position as judge, jury, and executioner over America's publishers and advertisers, and have exploited that position to tax and terrify the very people we rely on to keep us safe from tyranny. It is vital that the incoming Biden administration build on this case, in ways that fully and permanently break the power of Google and Facebook, and establish the foundation for an open and safe digital economy in the 21st century.”
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