Washington (AFP)
The US Department of Justice is preparing to file a second lawsuit against Google's parent company, Alphabet, over its advertising activities, Bloomberg News said on Wednesday, citing a source familiar with the matter.
Antitrust services, which have accelerated their investigation into Google's digital advertising practices, could file a complaint before the end of the year, the source said.
When asked about this information, Google defended itself from dominating the digital online advertising market and said that the internet market is very competitive.
In an email Wednesday, the group said its "ad technologies help websites and apps fund their content, enable small businesses to grow, and protect users from abusive privacy practices as well as bad advertising experiences ".
"There is huge competition in advertising tools, which has made online advertising more relevant, reduced costs and offered expanded options for publishers and advertisers," added a spokesperson for the internet giant.
Google's advertising revenue brought it $ 23 billion in revenue last year.
The group faces several lawsuits accusing it of abusing its dominant position on the web.
Last October, the Trump administration's Justice Department and a dozen states filed a civil lawsuit against Google.
They accuse the Mountain View (California) group of maintaining an "illegal monopoly" on online research and advertising.
In December, prosecutors in 38 US states and territories also filed charges for abuse of dominance, with arguments similar to those of the Department of Justice.
In addition, several bills have been adopted in committees targeting the business practices of big names in tech like Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook.
One of the bills aims to limit the ability of technological platforms to take advantage of their control over several sectors of activity, potentially opening the door to the division of activities of some of these giants.
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