Google has released a statement following the court’s ruling in the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit against the tech giant.
The statement said that the recent court ruling in the DOJ’s ad tech lawsuit found their advertiser tools and acquisitions don’t harm competition. But the company went on to add that they disagreed with the Court’s ruling on their publisher tool, Google Ad Manager (a small part of their business), and that they would appeal.
However, the statement acknowledged that before an appeals process, the company needed to propose remedies to respond to the Court’s decision.
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The statement said that for their part, Google would offer a proposal that fully addresses the Court’s findings — as the DOJ recently admitted in court. These remedies would reportedly make it even easier for publishers to use Google Ad Manager with other ad tech providers, while minimizing disruption.
The specifics are mentioned below:
● 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.
The statement went on to complain that the DOJ was seeking remedies that went significantly beyond the Court’s narrow ruling by forcing a divestiture of Google Ad Manager. The statement said that 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.
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If Google is required to divest its Ad Manager or ad-tech assets, it could significantly impact the company’s revenue and market dominance. Ad Manager is a core part of Google’s advertising business, contributing billions in revenue. Divestiture would force Google to sell or separate this part of the business, potentially reducing its control over the ad market. This could lead to increased competition from other ad tech companies. However, Google may still benefit from its strong search and YouTube platforms, but losing a major part of its ad-tech portfolio could weaken its overall position in digital advertising.