A coalition of 10 states in the United States led by Texas has filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech behemoth of engaging in anti-competitive practices that stifle innovation and limit consumer choice.

The lawsuit filed on Wednesday in the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division, accused Google of monopolizing and attempting to monopolize products and services used by advertisers and publishers in online-display advertising, and engaging in deceptive acts to sell, buy and auction online ad space.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton described Google in a statement as “a trillion-dollar monopoly” that is abusing its standing to force other companies, including Facebook, to agree to its terms that undermine competition.

“Google is essentially trading on ‘insider information’ by acting as pitcher, catcher, batter and umpire, all at the same time,” Paxton said. “This isn’t the ‘free market’ at work. This is anti-market and illegal under state and federal law.”

The lawsuit states that Google, in its “monopoly position,” uses its market power to extract a high tax on the ad dollars flowing to online publishers and content producers, such as newspapers and blogs, which survive by selling advertisements on their websites and apps.

This tax, it said, is passed onto the consumers through paying higher prices for lower quality goods, services and information.

“The open Internet is now threatened by a single company,” the lawsuit said. “Google has become the controlling node and the central authority for online advertising, which serves as the primary currency enabling a free and open Internet.”

The lawsuit adds that Google plans to further its dominance through transforming the architecture of the World Wide Web.

“Google’s plan is to create a walled garden around the Internet in which it controls websites and mobile applications,” it said. “Google’s documented plan is to capture online publishers on the open Internet and transform them into content creators generating revenue for Google on a completely closed platform.”

The lawsuit follows a similar suit filed against Google by the Justice Department in October, which was joined by 11 states, and accused the company of violating the Sherman Act that bars monopolistic business practices.

Attorneys general from Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah joined Paxton in the Wednesday lawsuit. CURRENTPH