Daily Mail sues Google for ad space monopoly

The Daily Mail, owner of the MailOnline newspaper, sued Google on Tuesday, alleging that the search and advertising giant’s power over selling online ad space means newspapers see little of the revenue their content produces.

The federal lawsuit against Google and its parent, Alphabet Inc, alleges that Google controls the tools used to sell ad inventory as well as the space on publishers’ pages where ads can be placed and the exchange that decides where ads will be placed.

“The lack of competition for publishers inventory depresses prices and reduces the amount and quality of news available to readers, but Google ends up ahead because it controls a growing share of the ad space that remains,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit, which was filed in US District Court in New York by the Britishbased company, also said that Google “punished” publishers who “do not submit to its practices”.

Google called the lawsuit’s claims “meritless” and “inaccurate”. “The use of our ad tech tools has no bearing on how a publisher’s website ranks in Google Search,” Google said.