NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2023) Shares of Google's parent company Alphabet were down more than 1% on Tuesday after the US Justice Department and the attorney-generals of eight US states jointly sued the internet search giant for alleged abuse of the digital advertising space.
Alphabet shares were down $1.18, or 1.2%, at $100.03 by 13:50 ET (18:30 GMT) after an intraday drop to $99.30.
According to the lawsuit filed in a US district court in Virginia, Google has "corrupted legitimate competition in the ad tech industry by engaging in a systematic campaign to seize control of the wide swath of high-tech tools used by publishers, advertisers, and brokers, to facilitate digital advertising."
Having inserted itself into all aspects of the digital advertising marketplace, Google has also "used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful means to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies," the lawsuit said, supported by the attorney-generals of Virginia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
