Google asked a federal judge on Friday to dismiss the majority of the allegations in an antitrust case brought by the state of Texas. The corporation stated in the filing that the Texas complaint isn’t “credible” and that the state failed to prove that the company’s ad business violated antitrust laws.
“AG Paxton’s charges are more heat than light, and we don’t believe they meet the legal requirement to send this matter to trial,” wrote Google Director of Economic Policy Adam Cohen in a blog post. “The complaint misrepresents our company, products, and motives, and we want to dismiss it because it fails to make plausible antitrust accusations.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the action in late 2020, alleging that Google improperly maintained a monopoly in online advertising. Texas renewed the suit this week with a fresh complaint that was originally filed in November but redacted before a court ordered the details of the complaint to be made public.
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Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Kentucky, and Puerto Rico have all joined the lawsuit.
Google contends Paxton “overlooks or misstates a litany of clear facts,” including charges that the firm struck an agreement with Facebook to protect its online ad dominance by crushing a new ad buying procedure known as “header bidding.”
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According to The New York Times, Facebook announced the partnership in 2018 but did not mention that Google provided “unique information and speed benefits to assist the company succeed in the auctions that it did not offer to other partners — even including a guaranteed ‘win rate.'”
Meta, which is embroiled in its own antitrust issues, has urged the court to dismiss an antitrust action that might force it to sell Instagram and WhatsApp, but a judge ruled earlier this month that the FTC’s refiled suit will be allowed to proceed.