What you need to know
- Google is unlikely to avoid an antitrust lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice.
- The DOJ is reportedly poised to reject Google's proposal to split its ad tech business.
- Google previously confirmed that it's working with regulators to address antitrust concerns, but added that it had no plans to sell off the business.
Google is in danger of facing yet another legal battle stemming from the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust complaints against its ad tech business, according to Bloomberg.
The DOJ is reportedly preparing to file a new antitrust lawsuit against Google over allegations that its ad tech business is stifling competition. This means that regulators are likely to scrap the concessions previously made by the search giant to evade a court battle.
Earlier this week, Google reportedly offered to spin off parts of its ad tech business into a separate firm under Alphabet. The concessions came in response to reports that some U.S. senators were planning to introduce a new bill targeting its ad tech business.
Google's ad tech platform serves as some sort of an exchange for selling and placing ads on the web and mobile apps. However, it has come under scrutiny in recent months due to its market dominance.
Google told Android Central earlier this week that it's been working with regulators to address their concerns. However, a company representative confirmed that Google had no plans to sell off its embattled ad business.
Antitrust regulators had previously warned Google that a lawsuit could be filed and that it had no intention of accepting settlements. It's not surprising, therefore, that the Mountain View-based tech giant's recent proposal may not have gone down well with regulators.
According to Bloomberg, the antitrust lawsuit may be filed in the coming weeks. If it pushes through, it will add to a pile of antitrust complaints versus Google. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority is investigating whether the search giant is unfairly shutting out third-party ad servers. Last year, the European Commission also launched a probe into Google's online ad tech business for potential violations of EU competition rules.
