WASHINGTON - The U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit against Alphabet Inc’s Google kicks off what is expected to be a long legal battle over whether the online search and advertising company uses its outsized market power unfairly.
In the complaint’s “request for relief,” the U.S. is seeking “structural relief as needed to cure any anti-competitive harm.” “Structural relief” in antitrust matters generally means the sale of an asset. Other allegations relate to advertising more broadly. In advertising, Google dominates the interlocking businesses that connect advertisers with newspapers, websites and other firms looking to host them. Google has been accused of being opaque in revealing its revenue from transactions, using “bundles” of products to disadvantage smaller rivals, and of rigging auctions.