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NetChoice Releases “Is Google Search an Advertising Goliath? Think Again,” Challenging Claims that Google Has Violated Antitrust Law

Washington, D.C.– Today, NetChoice, a trade association fighting for free expression and free enterprise online, released a report refuting the case for antitrust action against Google.

Despite attempts to weaponize antitrust law, there is still no substantive case for antitrust action against Google, the report shows. Simply put, this report highlights how Google’s business decisions do not violate antitrust law or the consumer welfare standard.

“Government intervention in digital advertising could very well end up making the market less competitive. Google’s ad tech helps consumers all while Google has reduced market prices and offers high-quality products,” says NetChoice VP and General Counsel Carl Szabo. “The government should not pursue antitrust enforcement merely to penalize success or protect stagnant competitors — and it certainly should not do so for political reasons.”

“Our report shows that antitrust enforcement is not necessary in the digital ad market,” continued Szabo. “We hope the FTC and the DOJ take note of the important findings in our report so they can focus their efforts on markets where we actually see consumer harm.”

According to the NetChoice report, Google Search:

  • has robust competition, including from large companies like Amazon and Facebook and from upstarts like DuckDuckGo;
  • has not acted anti-competitively, continuously researching and developing new technology; and
  • has not actively harmed consumers, reducing ad prices while increasing quality.

In fact, key statistics and findings in the report show:

  • Digital ad prices are down 40% since 2010;
  • Google is only 32% of the online advertising market.

The full report can be found here.