More states have joined a federal lawsuit against search giant Google, claiming the company broke antitrust laws while running its large digital advertising business.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that nine additional states, including Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Washington, and West Virginia, joined the civil antitrust suit filed by the DOJ.
The attorneys general of those states and California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Virginia have joined, claiming that Google monopolized "multiple digital advertising technology products in violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act."
Doha Mekki, an AG for the DOJ's Antitrust Division, said on Monday, "We look forward to litigating this important case alongside our state law enforcement partners to end Google’s long-running monopoly in digital advertising technology markets."
Mekki said the lawsuit will try to "deliver the benefits of competition to website publishers, digital advertisers, and the American public."
The lawsuit argues that Alphabet's Google should be forced to sell its ad manager suite after abusing its dominance in the online adverting space.
A different lawsuit filed in 2020 as then President Donald Trump was leaving office — which will go to trial in September — accuses Google of violating antitrust laws to dominate in its search business.
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