Justice Department Expected to File Antitrust Case Against Google Within Weeks

The US Justice Department is expected to file an antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc's Google within weeks over its dominance in the online advertising market, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Justice Department is likely to reject concessions offered by Alphabet, the report said. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment and Google declined to comment. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google had offered concessions to avoid a possible US antitrust lawsuit, including a proposal to split its business divisions that auction and place ads on websites and apps into a separate company under Alphabet. But a Google spokesman told Reuters on Friday that it was meeting with regulators to address their concerns and had no plans to sell or exit its ad tech business. The Justice Department has been investigating Google's ad tech practices since 2019 and has stepped up its probe into the ad market in recent months under the supervision of Doha Mekki, an official in the antitrust division, the report said. The Justice Department sued Google in October 2020, accusing the company of illegally using its market power to block competitors, in the biggest challenge to the power and influence of Big Tech in decades.