Marketers weigh the cons of working with Google Ad Manager amid Justice Department’s new lawsuit
It might be difficult for advertisers to turn their backs on Google completely but it’s getting a lot easier for them to look away these days.
Antitrust challenges from the U.S. Department of Justice tend to have that sort of effect — especially when there’s a bigger than usual chance that this one could actually subvert Google’s influence over ad dollars.
It’s Google’s most serious antitrust challenge to date. Not only is it anchored to a real harm — the fact that Google’s ads business has foisted a heavy tax on struggling digital publishers — it also outlines how this behavior has hurt users.
The latter point harks back to Sections 1 and 2 of The Sherman Act, articles the DOJ along with eight Attorneys General filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in a 139-page lawsuit last week.