NEW YORK (Reuters) – Gannett, the publisher of USA Today, on Tuesday sued Google, accusing the social media company of violating federal antitrust law by trying to monopolize the market for online advertising.
In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Gannett, said newspaper publishers are suffering because Google and its parent Alphabet Inc monopolize tools that publishers and advertisers use to buy and sell online ads.
It said this forces publishers to sell more ad space to Google at depressed prices, resulting in “dramatically less revenue for publishers and Google’s ad-tech rivals, while Google enjoys exorbitant monopoly profits.”
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gannett said online digital advertising in the United States has since 2009 grown nearly eightfold into a $200 billion business, but newspaper ad revenue has fallen 70% over that time.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York, Editing by Louise Heavens)
