On Friday, United States District Judge Leonie Brinkema declined to issue an order that would have required a Justice Department employee to recuse himself from the government’s advertising antitrust action against Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) Google. However, the judge did say that the Justice Department “should think about it.”
Google submitted a request to the Justice Department in November 2021, requesting that they consider forcing Jonathan Kanter, the assistant attorney general in charge of antitrust, to recuse himself because he worked for many organizations that were Google’s detractors.
The government has proposed that Google be compelled to sell its ad manager suite, and they have claimed that this should happen. Google has stated that it did nothing improper. The advertising action was initially brought in January in Arlington, Virginia, by the Justice Department in conjunction with eight other states. In April, nine other states joined the claim.
Brinkema did not issue an order that Kanter be recused from the case; nonetheless, at a court hearing, she expressed some skepticism as to whether or not he should be involved, and she added that the Justice Department ought to “use some wisdom” in determining what course of action to take.
Google’s well-known search engine is offered without charge but also generates cash from its other ad technology businesses. The government has leveled allegations that Google is exploiting its dominant position in the digital advertising market to increase its revenues.
Advertisers and website publishers have voiced their dissatisfaction with Google’s lack of transparency over advertising revenue, specifically regarding the proportion of that revenue allocated to Google vs. that allocated to publishers.
Separately, in the neighboring city of Washington, District of Columbia, Google is battling an antitrust case launched by the United States in 2020. The lawsuit accuses the business of employing unethical measures to maintain its position as the most successful search engine. On Friday, that case’s first week of the trial will close.
Google has stated that it did nothing improper in each of these incidents. In the search case, it contends that the reason it is at the top is due to the excellent quality of its results. In advertising technology, it contends that its current market share of 70% is not high enough to qualify as market power. No evidence suggests that advertisers have suffered due to Google’s actions.
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