Gannett, the largest newspaper chain in the United States and owners of USA Today, filed suit against Google Tuesday, claiming that the tech giant’s ad technology violates federal antitrust laws by monopolizing online advertising.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York against both Google and its parent company, Alphabet.
Gannett alleged that Google’s dominance over the $200-billion digital ad market has cut into print newspaper ad revenues, which have dropped by nearly 70 percent since 2009, forcing many local and independent newspapers out of business.
“Google controls how publishers sell their ad slots, and it forces publishers to sell growing shares of that ad space to Google at depressed prices,” the suit read. “The result is dramatically less revenue for publishers and Google’s ad-tech rivals, while Google enjoys exorbitant monopoly profits.”
