Bloomberg: DOJ Is Preparing to Sue Google Over Ad Market as Soon as September. “The US Justice Department is preparing to sue Google as soon as next month, according to people familiar with the matter, capping years of work to build a case that the Alphabet Inc. unit illegally dominates the digital advertising market.”
Bloomberg: Meta Asks Court to Force Snap to Hand Over Data as It Fights FTC Antitrust Lawsuit. “Meta Platforms Inc. is asking a judge to force Snap Inc. to hand over data it says is needed to help the Facebook owner defend against a US government antitrust lawsuit.”
Reuters: EU antitrust regulators quiz developers on Google app payments – sources . “EU antitrust regulators have asked app developers whether Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) unit Google’s threat to remove apps from its Play Store if they use other payment options instead of its own billing system has hurt their business, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.”
The Verge: Internal documents show Facebook and Google discussing platform strategies. “New internal documents released Tuesday detail how three of Big Tech’s most prominent companies favored their own products as a means of stamping out competition. Their release comes as lawmakers push to approve stronger antitrust legislation by the end of the year.”
Reuters: South Africa’s Competition Watchdog Says Google’s Ad Practices Distort Competition. “South Africa’s Competition Commission, which has been probing online markets for over a year, has provisionally found that Google’s paid search results distort competition, making it a ‘de facto monopolist’ in general search.”
Reuters: DoJ expected to file antitrust lawsuit against Google in weeks – Bloomberg News. “The U.S. Department of Justice is expected to file an antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet Inc’s… Google in weeks over its dominance in the online advertising market, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.”
CNET: Google Reportedly Offers to Split Ad Tech Business to Fend Off US Antitrust Suit. “Google has reportedly offered to make concessions to thwart a possible antitrust lawsuit by the Department of Justice that takes aim at the search giant’s ad technology business.”
Institute for Local Self-Reliance: Rolling Back Corporate Concentration: How New Federal Antimerger Guidelines Can Restore Competition and Build Local Power. “When the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice announced plans to revise their merger guidelines earlier this year, it marked a dramatic shift from business as usual. Their announcements set the stage for a new era in antitrust regulation where mergers are not seen as inherent benefits to the market to be encouraged but rather as inherent threats of which to be skeptical.” A lot of tech industry competition in the last several years has been “If you can’t beat them, buy them and eat them”: if the commitment to antitrust regulation holds it’ll mean a lot.
Reuters: Exclusive: Google Hit With Antitrust Complaint by Danish Job Search Rival. “Google was hit with an antitrust complaint on Monday after a Danish online job-search rival took its grievance to EU regulators, alleging the Alphabet unit had unfairly favoured its own job search service. The complaint could accelerate EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager’s scrutiny of the service, Google for Jobs, three years after it first came under her microscope.”
Bloomberg: Google Avoids More Fines After Ending French Dispute Over News. “The French competition authority said Google significantly improved commitments it initially offered last year, which now address its concerns and have been made binding, ending the case. The Alphabet Inc. unit made promises last year in the wake of a 500 million euro ($527 million) fine for failing to follow an earlier order to thrash out fair deals with publishers. The company also agreed to withdraw its challenge against the penalty.”
Reuters: German Competition Regulator Launches Probe Into Google Maps. “Germany’s cartel office said it was launching proceedings against Google Germany and parent company Alphabet Inc on Tuesday to examine possible anti-competitive restrictions imposed by the Google Maps platform.”
Bloomberg: Senate Passes State Venue Antitrust Bill That Google Opposed. “The Senate passed legislation Tuesday evening to allow state attorneys general to pick the location where their federal antitrust suits are heard, a blow to Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which had opposed the bill.”
Brookings Institution: History repeats itself with Big Tech’s misleading advertising. “As we watch the reenactment in the internet age of a political strategy developed in the industrial age, it is worth remembering that the 19th-century effort was ultimately unsuccessful and that the protections put in place to assure a competitive market resulted in a century of progress and competition-driven innovation that made the United States the envy of the world.”
CNBC: Google offers to let ad rivals place YouTube ads in EU antitrust probe. “Google parent Alphabet has offered to let rival ad intermediaries place ads on YouTube to address a crucial part of an EU antitrust investigation that could pave the way for it to settle the case without a fine, people familiar with the matter said.”
South China Morning Post: China’s largest academic paper database CNKI opens some services to individuals after Beijing’s antitrust probe. “China’s top academic paper database is opening some services to individual users such as students and academic professionals a month after its outsized influence over digital academic resources brought it under antitrust scrutiny.”
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