The updated allegations are the latest in an onslaught of
regulatory scrutiny of Google over its practices. The tech company faces
several lawsuits, including one by the Justice Department for monopolistic
practices.
Earlier this week, Google lost an appeal against a $2.8
billion European Union antitrust decision.
The amended US lawsuit, filed in a federal court in New York
late Friday, accuses Google of using monopolistic and coercive tactics with
advertisers in its efforts to dominate and drive out competition in online
advertising.
The lawsuit also highlights Google's use of a secret
programme dubbed "Project Bernanke" in 2013 that used bidding data to
give its own advertisement-buying an advantage.
For example, in a 2015 iteration of the programme, Google
allegedly dropped the second-highest bids from publishers' auctions,
accumulated money into a pool and then spent that money to inflate only the
bids belonging advertisers who used the company's Google Ads. They otherwise
would have likely lost the auctions, the states alleged.
A Google spokesperson said the lawsuit mischaracterises one
of the improvements the firm has made to optimize advertisers' bids.
"Just because (Texas) Attorney General (Ken) Paxton
asserts something doesn't make it true. This lawsuit is riddled with inaccuracies,"
the statement said.
The Texas attorney general's office did not response to
requests for comment on the lawsuit. – Reuters.