Sell-side advertising company Magnite has filed a law suit in the US seeking financial damages against Google for its monopoly in adtech.
The US District Court in April ruled Google had “wilfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts to acquire and maintain monopoly power” in the ad exchange and ad server markets.
Magnite said Google’s dominance of open-web display advertising has stifled growth, innovation and investment in the industry for more than a decade.
The court filing outlines Google’s scheme to lock publishers into its ad server and to preference its own exchange.
That conduct ultimately deprived independent players the opportunity to compete fairly and grow their businesses, while harming publishers and advertisers, Magnite said.
“Magnite was founded to help publishers thrive by maximizing their advertising yield through innovative technology, trusted guidance, and a transparent marketplace that efficiently connects them to buyers,” said Michael Barrett, CEO of Magnite.
“For years, Google undermined our ability to execute on this mission with practices that favored its own business over the health of the open web, causing harm to publishers, advertisers, and partners like us.
“We look forward to a future that promotes healthy competition, ongoing innovation, and value creation for the ecosystem as a whole.”
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