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The largest US newspaper chain, Gannett, filed a lawsuit against Google on Tuesday, alleging that the tech giant tried to monopolize the internet advertising industry in violation of federal antitrust law.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan by the publisher of USA Today and more than 200 daily newspapers, it was claimed that the media is suffering as a result of Google and its parent company Alphabet’s monopoly over tools for buying and selling internet advertisements.
The upshot, according to Gannett, is “dramatically less revenue for publishers and Google’s ad-tech rivals, while Google enjoys exorbitant monopoly profits.” This compels publishers to sell more ad space to Google at reduced costs. Unspecified damages are what Gannett is claiming.
It initiated its legal action against Google over the Mountain View, California-based company’s advertising technology five months after the US Department of Justice filed a comparable complaint against Google.
Google may have to sell some of its advertising technology, according to the European Union, which launched its own lawsuit on June 14.
Google accounted for over 80% of Alphabet’s total income in 2022 with $224.5 billion (about Rs 18,42,777 crore) in advertising revenue and a $60 billion (roughly Rs 4,92,506 crore) profit overall. Email and a large portion of Google’s YouTube video platform are both free thanks to advertising.
The amount of advertising income generated by Google in the first quarter was $54.5 billion, or nearly Rs. 4,47,360 crore. Like many newspaper publishers, McLean, Virginia-based Gannett has experienced difficulties in recent years due to declining ad income and an increase in the number of readers who choose to acquire their news online.
In addition to closing more than 170 properties following its merger with GateHouse Media in 2019, Gannett reported that print circulation at its newspapers decreased by about 20 percent in 2020 and 2021. In contrast, newspaper ad income has decreased by close to 70% since 2009, the complaint claims, while online digital advertising in the United States has increased by over eight times since 2009 to become a $200 billion (approximately Rs. 16,41,689 crore) industry.
Gannett Co. v. Google LLC et al., US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 23-05177, is the case at hand.