The US Department of Justice (DOJ) litigation against Google has entered an active phase. The corporation has been charged with monopolistic behavior in the online advertising market. Experts warn that a Google victory could deal a crushing blow to the concept of an open internet, hurting the rights of users and small online businesses.
Image source: geralt/Pixabay
A lawsuit has begun in Virginia in which Google is battling the U.S. Justice Department over allegations that the company has become a monopoly in the ad tech market by controlling key components of the digital advertising ecosystem, including advertiser networks, publisher ad servers and ad exchanges. The Justice Department alleges that this regime allowed the company to exert undue influence over the market, stifling competition and harming both publishers and advertisers.
A press conference was recently held with lawyers, nonprofit representatives, and privacy experts. They discussed the potential implications of this landmark case. In their opinion, the defeat of the DOJ could worsen the situation in the online space for both ordinary users and companies. “A Google victory could undermine the very foundations of the open Internet,” said one conference participant.
The concept of an “open Internet” implies a free, decentralized and publicly accessible information infrastructure. Ideally, such a system operates without central authorities or gatekeepers controlling access to information through standard web interfaces such as web browsers. However, the reality is that Google has become the de facto dominant gatekeeper for the majority of Internet users around the world.
Lee Hepner, a California antitrust lawyer and legal counsel for the American Civil Liberties Project, argues that if Google wins in court, the degradation of the open internet will accelerate. The open internet is an opportunity for small online businesses. The loss of this ecosystem will lead to the centralization of the online market, which will be trapped in the closed ecosystems of tech giants.
Sacha Haworth, executive director of Tech Oversight, accuses Google of failing to highlight the obvious harms of its predatory business model. According to her, advertising controlled by Google distorts the digital economy and significantly contributes to inflation. According to experts, Google controls more than 90% of the search advertising technology market.
Analysts say the absence of Google’s disruptive influence on advertising would lead to lower consumer prices for online goods. Elise Phillips, policy advisor at Public Knowledge, emphasizes that democratizing the digital advertising landscape could give small and medium-sized businesses a chance to compete for the attention of online shoppers. Market researcher Karina Montoya predicts that a Google victory could create a nearly insurmountable gap between the haves and have-nots in the online market.