(Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google said on Wednesday it believes the U.S. Justice Department complaint accusing the company of abusing its dominance in digital advertising is “without merit.”
The company also added that it “will vigorously defend itself”.
The US government said on Tuesday that Google should be forced to sell its ad management suite, the division that generated about 12% of Google’s revenue in 2021 while also playing a vital role in overall sales. from the search engine and the cloud company.
Google, which relies on its advertising business for about 80% of its revenue, said the government was “reinforcing a flawed argument that would slow innovation, raise advertising fees and hinder the growth of thousands of small businesses and publishers. ”.
The federal government has said its investigations and lawsuits involving so-called “Big Tech” are aimed at leveling the playing field for smaller rivals facing a group of powerful companies that include Amazon.com, Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Apple Inc. .
“In contrast to previous cases/investigations against Google’s ad tech business, we view the Department of Justice’s complaint as being quite substantial and anticipating some of Google’s possible lines of defense,” said Brian Fitzgerald, an analyst at Wells Fargo.
(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta and Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru)
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