Google’s antitrust troubles don’t seem to be slowing down. Here is what we know.
OpenX is now suing Google, alleging that the tech giant engaged in a range of anti-competitive behaviors through its adtech business. OpenX, which operates as a supply-side platform (SSP), says Google’s self-serving practices made it nearly impossible for other ad servers and exchanges like OpenX to compete, ultimately forcing OpenX to shut down its ad server business back in 2019.
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, claims that Google manipulated digital ad auctions and gave special treatment to its own services, using self-preferencing practices that make it difficult for other ad exchanges and ad servers like OpenX to compete on a level playing field.
The complaint alleges that Google, through a series of acquisitions, namely DoubleClick, and self-preferencing practices, established dominant positions across the ad tech stack, controlling the tools advertisers use to buy ads, the ad exchange that brokers them and the ad server publishers use to sell them. The adtech company alleges that Google disallowed publishers from setting price floors that would incentivize the use of rival ad exchanges, even when publishers wanted to.
When speaking on the matter of the lawsuit, OpenX CEO, John Gentry, explained “Our goal is twofold: one is to recover the damages for the harm that was done to the company over the years, and two, we’d really like to see a judgment that leads to fair competition in the marketplace, which means that Google is not doing these things going forward.”
The lawsuit comes less than four months after a pivotal federal court decision sided with the U.S. Department of Justice, ruling that Google maintains an unlawful monopoly over publisher ad servers and ad exchanges. The momentum is encouraging for OpenX, which sees the recent judgment as a strong foundation for its own antitrust claims. The detailed 88-page lawsuit demands a jury trial and aims to hold Google responsible for “crippling competitors at every turn” and systematically undermining rivals by manipulating the rules to maintain its dominance. The company argues that these tactics have stifled innovation, diminished quality, and suppressed healthy competition throughout the digital advertising ecosystem.
“They really rigged digital advertising auctions to the disadvantage of all their competitors,” OpenX CEO John Gentry told ADWEEK. “The classic example is, because they controlled the auctions at the ad server level, they modified the auctions such that they could see all the bids that came in and then decide to modify the Google bid after the fact, which allowed them to win a far larger number of transactions than any of the competitors because the auction was simply not a fair auction.”
Although OpenX hasn’t stated how much money it wants in damages, it continues to work with Google in other business areas while pushing for a fairer digital ad ecosystem. The lawsuit underscores broader industry concerns over Google’s control in adtech, where it owns and operates key infrastructure that connects publishers with advertisers, raising questions about fairness and competition.
According to ADWEEK, Google declined the request for comment.
