Gannett Co. Inc. GCI disclosed Tuesday that it filed a civil suit against Google and its parent Alphabet Inc., seeking damages for the “anticompetitive monopolization” of advertising technology markets and for “deceptive” commercial practices. The publisher of the USA Today newspaper and site alleges that news publishers don’t see the growth in ad spending because Google unlawfully acquired and maintains monopolies for tools publishers and advertisers use to buy and sell online ad space. “U.S. news, and particularly local news, have been substantially harmed by Google’s misconduct,” Gannett said. The company noted that online digital advertising is now a $200 billion business in the U.S., up 8-fold since 2009, but newspapers’ advertising revenue had declined 70% during the same time. “Gannett’s lawsuit seeks to restore competition in a digital advertising marketplace that Google has badly broken,” Gannett said. Alphabet did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gannett’s stock has tumbled 39.5% over the past 12 months through Friday, while Alphabet shares have rallied 15.3% and the S&P 500 SPX has climbed 20.0%.
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