CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey joined with 16 other states in a lawsuit claiming Google is monopolizing digital technology.
The lawsuit was filed April 17 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at Alexandria and alleges violations of the Sherman Act
The states claim Google monopolizes key digital advertising technologies, collectively referred to as the "ad tech stack," that website publishers depend on to sell ads and that advertisers rely on to buy ads and reach potential customers.
Morrisey said competition is important in a free market.
"We believe in a free market and this lawsuit is seeking to bring back digital advertising competition, a key element for consumers to make educated and rational decisions," Morrisey said. "A healthy free-market economy thrives on competition not in monopoly."
The lawsuit argues that an open, vibrant internet is indispensable to American life, but today’s internet would not exist without the digital advertising revenue that, as a practical matter, funds its creation and expansion.
"The internet provides the public with unprecedented access to ideas, artistic expression, news, commerce, and services," the complaint states. "Content creators span every conceivable industry; they publish diverse material on countless websites that inform, entertain, and connect society in vital ways."
The states claim that the viability of many websites depends on their ability to sell digital advertising space and just as newspaper, radio, and television organizations historically relied on advertising to fund their operations, today’s online publishers also rely on advertising revenue to support their activities and reach.
"But unlike historical media advertising, today’s online ads are bought and sold in enormous volumes in mere fractions of a second, using highly sophisticated tools and automated exchanges that more closely resemble a modern stock exchange than an old-fashioned, bilateral contract negotiation for newspaper ad space," the complaint states.
The states argue that Google has engaged in a course of anticompetitive and exclusionary conduct that consisted of neutralizing or eliminating ad tech competitors through acquisitions; wielding its dominance across digital advertising markets to force more publishers and advertisers to use its products; and thwarting the ability to use competing products.
In doing so, the states contend, Google cemented its dominance in tools relied on by website publishers and online advertisers, as well as the digital advertising exchange that runs ad auctions.
The states that join West Virginia are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia case number: 1:23-cv-00108