On August 18, 2004, the Google Inc. logo is seen outside their headquarters in Mountain View, California. REUTERS Clay McLachlan File Photo
WASHINGTON, January 21, Reuters - Alphabet Inc.'s Google GOOGL.O asked a federal judge on Friday to dismiss the majority of an antitrust lawsuit filed by Texas and other states that accused the search giant of abusing its dominance of the online advertising market.
In a court filing, Google said that the states failed to show that they illegally worked with Facebook, now Meta FB.O to counter header bidding, a technology that publishers developed to make money from advertising placed on their websites. Facebook has not been named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
The states had also alleged that Google used at least three programs to manipulate ads to lure advertisers and publishers into using Google's tools.
Google said that the states had a collection of grievances but no proof of wrongdoing. On some of the allegations, Google argued that the states waited too long to file its lawsuit.
They criticize Google for not designing its products to suit its rivals' needs and making improvements to its products that leave its competitors too far behind. In its filing, the company said that they see the solution to Google's success as holding Google back rather than letting market forces push its competitors forward.
Google asked for four of the six counts to be dismissed with prejudice, which means it can't be brought back to the same court.
The lawsuit in Texas was based on state law and made against Google, which was stayed in September. The search giant did not ask for them to be dismissed on Friday, but they reserved the right to do so in the future.
The lawsuit is part of a long list of antitrust investigations and federal and state litigation against the Big Tech platforms.