The Justice Department says it will conduct new interviews about Google’s search for ad tech.

The Justice Department has granted new interviews in recent weeks to its investigation into Google’s ad technology, a sign that it is close to filing a second antitrust lawsuit against the company, three people familiar with the matter said.

The Justice Department has been investigating for more than a year whether Google abused its dominance over the interoperable technologies that serve ads online. The lawyers, who are not authorized to discuss confidential matters, are now again talking to publishers and Google’s competitors.

A Justice Department spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bloomberg has previously reported on the Justice Department meetings.

“Intensified competition in online advertising has made online advertising more relevant, ad technology more affordable, and more options for publishers and advertisers,” said Google spokesman Peter Schottenfels.

In the year On August 31, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York will hear Google’s motion to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit brought by the state of Texas against the company’s ad technology practices. Pending a ruling in that case, Justice Department officials could see what the judge thinks about the antitrust claims before proceeding with their own case, these people said.

Texas argues in the case that Google has obtained a monopoly over the digital advertising industry and abused it to manipulate bids and generate higher profits than rival ad exchanges. Those are matters the Justice Department has been investigating, people familiar with the investigation said.

In the year In 2020, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit alleging that Google violated antitrust laws by abusing its power over online search. That same year, the attorney general of Texas and nine other states filed their own lawsuits that focused on Google’s control of the display advertising technology ecosystem used by publishers such as news outlets to sell advertising space on their websites.

This summer, Google offered to settle a Justice Department inquiry by moving its ad technology businesses to a separate unit under its parent company, Alphabet, according to a person with knowledge of the deal previously reported by the Wall Street Journal. But the government was very skeptical of the offer, the person said.

Mr. Schottenfels said Google is “engaging constructively with regulators to address their concerns” and that “we have no plans to sell or exit this business.”