The recent court ruling in the DOJ’s ad tech lawsuit found our advertiser tools and acquisitions don’t harm competition. We disagree with the Court’s ruling on our publisher tool, Google Ad Manager (a small part of our business), and will appeal.
Before we can move to the appeals process, the parties are required to outline remedies that respond to the Court’s decision.
For our part, we are offering a proposal that fully addresses the Court’s findings — as the DOJ recently admitted in court. These remedies would make it even easier for publishers to use Google Ad Manager with other ad tech providers, while minimizing disruption. Here are some specifics:
- Make real-time bid amounts for open web display ads from our ad exchange (AdX) available to all rival publisher ad servers;
- Deprecate Unified Pricing Rules for open-web display ads, giving publishers the option to set different price floors for different bidders when using Google Ad Manager;
- Commit to not using “first look” and “last look” for open-web display ads. These auction dynamics were phased out of Google Ad Manager years ago.
- You can read our remedies proposal in this document.
In contrast, the DOJ is seeking remedies that go significantly beyond the Court’s narrow ruling by forcing a divestiture of Google Ad Manager. This would risk breaking a tool advertisers use to connect with publishers and efficiently reach their customers, and that app and video publishers use to monetize their content — businesses that aren’t even part of the narrow market of “open web display ads” at issue in this case.
Ad Manager helps publishers easily fund their content and grow their businesses, and most of the money we make from the tool is reinvested back into it. Breaking it would raise costs and disproportionately impact small businesses who rely on Google’s affordable, easy-to-use tools to grow.