The US Department of Justice (DoJ) and eight US states filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing it of illegally abusing its dominance over internet advertising business and limiting fair competition.

The lawsuit by DoJ alleges that Google used anti-competitive methods to eliminate or drastically reduce any threat to its dominance over the technologies used for digital advertising. Allegedly, Google has undertaken a systematic campaign to take control of a wide range of high-tech tools used by publishers, advertisers and brokers to facilitate digital advertising and manipulate the mechanics of online ad auctions to force advertisers and publishers to use its tools.

The suit, filed in the state of Virginia, asked the US District Court to force Google to sell its suite of ad technology products, including software for buying and selling ads, a marketplace for completing transactions and an online ad-serving service. The lawsuit also asked the court to stop the company from allegedly engaging in anti-competitive practices.