Feds to file antitrust suit against Google over ad dominance: report

The Justice Department is reportedly planning to move forward with an antitrust lawsuit targeting Google’s online ad sale🅺s juggernaut.

DOJ of🌸ficials are expected to file the lawsuit within weeks despite offers of concessions from Google parent Alphabet, which is attempting to reach a settlement and avert wider regul൲atory action, according to a report Thursday.

Google ha🎀s made at least one settlement offer to the feds in recent days – but the efforts at appeasement have failed to sway the DOJ’s antitrust division,  repo🌞rted.

Google holds a massive share of the online ad sales market, generating revenue of $31.7 billion for Alphabet over the last year alone. The Justiಞce Department is set to argue that Google’s business practices are anti-competitive.

The feds have been investigatin💜g allegations that Google has abused its market-leading position to maintain ꦜits dominant hold of the online ad market at the expense of potential rivals.

Google has argued it faces intense c𓆉ompe⛎tition from the likes of other tech giants such as Amazon and Facebook parent Meta.

Last week, the  reported that Google has made multiple concession offer💟s to regulators. Under one proposal, Google would spin off the part of its business that auctions and places ads on its digital properties as a separate co♊mpany controlled by Alphabet.

Despite the pressure from regula🌌tors, a Google representative told Bloomberg that the company has nꦦo plans to sell its ad tech business.

“We have been engaging constructively with regulators to address their concerns,” Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels said in a statement. 🌄♏“As we’ve said before, we have no plans to sell or exit this business, and we’re deeply committed to providing value to a wide array of publisher and advertiser partners in a highly competitive sector.”

The DOJ declined to comment on Blo🐲omberg’s report. Doha Mekki, the 🐎DOJ official expected to lead the legal maneuver, warned in April that lawsuits were coming.

“You’re going to 𓃲see a lot more litigation from the antitrust division,” Mekki said at an event. “The division’s position is we are not planning to take settlements. Settlements suggest compromise.

The Post ཧhas reached♚ out to the Justice Department and Google for further comment.

Google and oth🌳er Big Tech firms have faced mounting pressure in recent years from the feds, including the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission, over concerns about potentially anticompetitive and harmful business practices.

The DOJ previously sued Google in 2020, accusingﷺ the California-based company of holding “unl🌺awful monopolies” in its online search and advertising businesses.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has personally lobbied members of the Senate in an effort to stave off a legislative crackdown this year. Lawmakers are pressing forward💛 with a bill that would bar tech giants from favoring their own products over competing ones.

In March, a top official in President Biden’s DOJ expressed support for the bill, dౠubbed the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, and its companion bill in the House.