What’s in and what’s out in the Google ad tech antitrust reckoning
By now, the contours of the Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Google’s ad tech business are well covered – and deeply complex. Rather than rehash what’s already been parsed to death, here’s a definite (if not exhaustive) rundown of what’s actually in play as the case moves into its next chapter.
In
Publishers suing platforms
Out
Platforms strong-arming publishers
In
Proposing to buy Google’s ad exchange
Out
Proposing to buy Google’s browser
In
Publisher CEOs publicly rebuking Google
Out
Publisher CEOs privately rebuking Google
In
Cloudflare
Out
AppNexus
In
Big tech breakup remedies
Out
Big tech behavioral remedies
In
Saying the open web is dying
Out
Saying the open web is evolving
In
Publishers hiring AI negotiators
Out
Publishers hiring platform wranglers
In
Anticipating a world without Google-owned Adx
Out
Dreaming of a world without Google-owned Adx
In
Pragmatic about Google not owning its ad server
Outside
Angry over Google owning an ad server
In
U.S. President Donald Trump defending Google
Out
U.S. President Donald Trump lambasting Google
In
Google proposing to decouple its ad exchange from its ad server
Out
Google proposing to spin out its ad exchange from its ad server
In
Publishers pointing fingers at Google over traffic losses
Out
Publishers pointing fingers at Google over cookie policy
In
Waiting another several years for remedies to arrive
Out
Waiting several years for regulators to arrive
In
Ad server migration nightmares
Out
Ad server monopoly nightmares
Out
Backchannel diplomacy
In
Courtroom catharsis
In
Escrow accounts FTW
Out
Publisher layoffs FTL
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