Florida has joined an amended multi-state lawsuit charging Google with monopolistic behavior, deceptive online ad practices and consumer privacy violations – charges the tech giant says are baseless.
State Attorney General Ashley Moody said last month that Florida is joining with a coalition of 14 other state attorneys general to challenge Google in federal court for what Moody says are anticompetitive practices. The litigation was spearheaded by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“Attorney General Paxton’s ad tech claims are meritless,” Google spokesman Peter Schottenfels said in an email to the Florida Record, “yet he’s gone ahead in spite of all the facts. Our advertising technologies help websites and apps fund their content, enable small businesses to grow, and protect users from exploitative privacy practices and bad ad experiences. We will strongly defend ourselves from his baseless claims in court.”
Though the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas alleges Google’s practices have hurt organizations’ ability to monetize their websites, Google points to economic benefits Florida has reaped from the company’s investments.
Last year, according to Google, the company’s actions provided $21.6 billion in economic pursuits to nearly 190,000 businesses, nonprofits and other entities in Florida. In addition, the company said it gave nonprofits in the state $30.9 million in free ads through its Google Ad Grants service.
The lawsuit contends Google manipulates and dominates the marketplace for web display ads, but the company counters that the ad tech industry is robust and competitive.
“Through their monopolization and deceptive acts, Google greatly decreased other publishers’ ability to monetize their content while simultaneously increasing costs to advertisers,” Moody said in a prepared statement. “Most of all, Google harmed consumers, including the millions of Floridians who use the search engine daily.”
Google also denies allegations in the complaint that it has gamed its Open Bidding program in a way that amounts to an anticompetitive pact with Facebook, resulting in excessive charges through the monopolization of online-display ads.
And the company points out that the legal complaint filed by Paxton and other attorneys general is being managed by private contingency-fee plaintiffs’ attorneys. The Texas Attorney General’s Office is also dealing with recent resignations of staff members and an FBI investigation over bribery allegations.