Texas sues Google for ‘anticompetitive conduct’, attorney general says

‘If the free market were a baseball game, Google positioned itself as the pitcher, the batter and the umpire’

Texas is suing Google for anticompetitive conduct, according to state attorney general Ken Paxton.

Mr Paxton announced the multistate lawsuit against Google owner Alphabet Inc in a video posted to his social media on Wednesday.

“I’m proud to announce that the state of Texas is filing a multistate lawsuit against Google for anticompetitive conduct, exclusionary practices and deceptive misrepresentations,” Paxton said in a video posted on Twitter.  

“Google repeatedly used its monopolistic power to control pricing, engage in market collusions to rig auctions in a tremendous violation of justice.”

A spokesman for Google told The Independent in a statement that digital ad prices have fallen over the last decade in a hallmark of a highly competitive industry.

“Attorney General Paxton’s ad tech claims are meritless, yet he’s gone ahead in spite of all the facts. We’ve invested in state-of-the-art ad tech services that help businesses and benefit consumers,” the spokesman said.

“We will strongly defend ourselves from his baseless claims in court.”

It comes after a separate complaint from the Department of Justice (DOJ) that claimed Google kept a monopoly in online search services by cutting off competitors. The DOJ lawsuit was joined by Texas and 10 other Republican state attorneys general.

A third, bi-partisan complaint is expected to be filed from a separate coalition of states, according to Politico.

In his statement on Tuesday, Mr Paxton said Texas plans to hire the law firm of Kenn Starr, who led the Bill Clinton impeachment, to represent them against the company, according to Bloomberg.  

In his video on Wednesday, Mr Paxton said Google effectively eliminated its competition to crown itself as head of online advertising.

“If the free market were a baseball game, Google positioned itself as the pitcher, the batter and the umpire,” Mr Paxton said.

"This Goliath of a company is using its power to manipulate the market, destroy competition and harm you, the consumer… these actions harm every person in America."

Mr Paxton did not specify the exact charges Texas would be levelling at Google and the complaint has not yet to appear in court filings.