The federal government has said its Big Tech investigations and lawsuits are aimed at leveling the playing field for smaller rivals to a group of powerful companies that includes Amazon.com, Facebook owner Meta Platforms and Apple Inc.
The 2020 lawsuit alleged violations of antitrust law in how the company acquires or maintains its dominance with its monopoly in online search and is scheduled to go to trial in September.Eight states joined Tuesday’s lawsuit, including Google’s home state of California. Google Ad Manager is a suite of tools including one that allows websites to offer advertising space for sale and an exchange that serves a marketplace that automatically matches advertisers with those publishers.
An ad tech divestiture “may not be a game changer but it could be sneaky important to Google’s ad targeting capability,” said Paul Gallant with the Cowen Washington Research Group.