LEGAL BRIEFS

US DOJ prepares action against Google for alleged advertising monopoly

The United States Department of Justice is preparing a second antitrust lawsuit against Google for monopolistic practices in its digital advertising business. This action, which may be filed as soon as the end of this year, would be the second case of this kind against the Alphabet, Inc. company, after the filing of the DOJ suit over Google’s search practices in December 2020. A focus of the new Department of Justice suit is an alleged illegal deal with Facebook to manipulate online ad auctions. Google, which made $23 billion in gross revenue last year from digital advertising, denies both that it has a monopoly in the digital ad area and that it has colluded with Facebook to manipulate ad auctions.

NPPA and five photographers file civil rights lawsuit against NYPD

Five news photographers filed a lawsuit in federal court against the New York Police Department for violating their First Amendment rights by beatings, arrests and harassment while covering the racial justice protests last summer. The suit was brought by the National Press Photographers Association and the five photographers. “The right of journalists to record the activities of police officers engaged in their official duties in public places is fundamental,” said attorney Robert D. Balin of Davis Wright Tremaine, the law firm representing the NPPA and the photojournalists. Along with compensatory and punitive damages, the suit asks for an injunction directing the NYPD to end its practice of interfering with, arresting, and using physical force against photographers. In addition, it asks the City to train its officers on the press and public’s right to record police activity in public locations and appropriately discipline those officers who violate this constitutional right. “There has been a longstanding failure on the part of the City to train, supervise, and discipline police who interfere with the media trying to do their jobs,” said Mickey H. Osterreicher, general counsel for the NPPA. “With this action, we’re asking the court to finally call NYPD to account for its unlawful practices.”

“COVID isn’t an event. It’s an era. This isn’t some temporary setback; it’s how we live.”

—Judith Ellison S. Doyle in her article ‘There is No “When This is Over”’