Ten states sue Google for alleged anti-competitive behavior | CNN

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(CNN) -

Texas and nine other states sued Google on Wednesday, alleging the company has cracked down on competition and enjoys "monopoly power."

The lawsuit is the latest attack on the search giant and its dominance in online advertising.

It alleges that Google abuses its ownership of digital advertising markets to unfairly enrich itself at the expense of fair competition.

The lawsuit claims that Google's behavior has stifled innovation and hurt publishers, advertisers and consumers.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the lawsuit on Twitter.

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Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google (Getty Images)

"This giant of a company is using its power to manipulate the market, destroy the competition and harm you, the consumer," Paxton said in a video accompanying the tweet.

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The antitrust lawsuit against Google

The other nine states participating in the lawsuit include Kentucky, South Dakota, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota and Utah.

It is the second antitrust lawsuit by government officials to hit Google in the United States this year.

The Justice Department took the search giant to court on similar allegations in October.

Eleven states joined the lawsuit at that time.

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It also follows a lawsuit by more than 40 attorneys general against Facebook alleging it abused a monopoly on social media.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company previously called the Justice Department's lawsuit "deeply flawed" and said it "is based on dubious antitrust arguments."

"People use Google because they want to, not because they are forced to or because they can't find alternatives," wrote Kent Walker, Google's Senior Vice President of Global Affairs and Chief Legal Officer, in a blog post at the time.

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