Google filed a motion on Friday asking a federal court to dismiss most of the charges in an antitrust lawsuit led by the state of Texas. In the lawsuit, the company argued that Texas’ lawsuit is not “credible” and that the state failed to establish that the company’s advertising business conflicted with antitrust laws.
“AG Paxton’s allegations are hotter than mild, and we don’t believe they meet the legal standard to send this case to trial,” said Google’s director of economic policy, Adam Cohen. wrote in a blog post. “The claim misrepresents our business, products and motives, and we are moving to dismiss it based on its failure to offer plausible antitrust claims.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the lawsuit, which alleges that Google illegally maintained a monopoly on online advertising, in late 2020. Texas updated the process with a new complaint last week, which was first filed in November but drafted at the time, before a judge ordered the details of the complaint made public.
Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Kentucky and Puerto Rico also joined the lawsuit seeking to hold the tech giant to account. .
Google alleges that Paxton “ignores, or misrepresents, a litany of clear facts,” including claims that the company struck a deal with Facebook to maintain its online ad dominance by squashing an emerging ad-buying process called “bid. header”.
According The New York Times report, Facebook announced the relationship in 2018 but did not disclose that Google granted its competitor “special information and speed advantages to help the company succeed in auctions that it did not offer to other partners – including a guaranteed ‘win rate’.” ”.
Bogged down in its own antitrust issues, Meta also asked the court to file an antitrust suit that could force the company to sell Instagram and WhatsApp, but a judge ruled earlier this month that the FTC’s lawsuit could proceed.