The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday joined attorneys general from several states in filing an antitrust lawsuit against Google parent Alphabet. The complaint alleges that the company has monopolized key digital advertising technologies that website publishers and online advertisers rely on for their basic economic survival.
“Today’s complaint alleges that Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful conduct to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.
The complaint outlines anti-competitive practices over a 15 year period. Per a DOJ press release, these include:
“In pursuit of outsized profits, Google has caused great harm to online publishers and advertisers and American consumers," said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. "This lawsuit marks an important milestone in the Department’s efforts to hold big technology companies accountable for violations of the antitrust laws.”
This isn't the first time the Justice Department has taken aim at Google. The department filed a civil lawsuit in 2020 against its monopoly practices in search and search advertising.
Correction: Changed day from 'Wednesday' to 'Tuesday.'
Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni introduce Phia, a fashion tech startup that helps users find price comparisons and discover alternative options for apparel
Universal Music Group and AI platform Udio have settled a copyright lawsuit and will collaborate on a new music creation and streaming platform. The companies announced on Wednesday that they reached a compensatory legal settlement and new licensing agreements. These agreements aim to provide more revenue opportunities for Universal's artists and songwriters. The rise of AI song generation tools like Udio has disrupted the music streaming industry, leading to accusations from record labels. This deal marks the first since Universal and others sued Udio and Suno last year. Financial terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.
Microsoft says users of its Azure cloud portal may be not be able to access Office 365, Minecraft or other services due to issues with its global content delivery network services. The tech company posted a note to its Azure status page that its teams are currently deploying a fix to address the outage.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
