Blumenthal to DOJ, FTC Antitrust Officials on Google: End Cycle of Impunity

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Makan Delrahim and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Joseph Simons today to urge the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FTC to “take strong and immediate enforcement action against Google to protect consumers and competition from Google’s consistent anticompetitive behavior.” Blumenthal’s letter follows the release of a paper authored by former Obama Administration officials David C. Dinielli and Fiona M. Scott Morton, Roadmap for a Digital Advertising Monopolization Case against Google, that lays out the building blocks for a potential antitrust case against the tech giant.

“Google has repeatedly been caught exploiting its behemoth power and abusing its dominance—stifling innovators, crushing competitors, harming consumers. The company’s monopolistic dominance in the digital advertising market is no exception. By driving up advertising costs and siphoning revenues that would otherwise go to publishers, Google is simultaneously taking money from consumers’ pockets and undermining the marketplace of ideas,” Blumenthal wrote in his letter to DOJ and the FTC.

“DOJ and the FTC must do more than wring hands and warn about abuse – you must end this cycle of impunity,” Blumenthal continued. “Only DOJ and the FTC have the tools to do so—to demand structural change at Google and to hold Google accountable. DOJ and the FTC must be bold and fearless in protecting consumers and competition against anticompetitive tactics and excessive market power.”

The full text of Blumenthal’s letter is available here.

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