• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, 11 hours ago

Google has been sued by companies and governments for a variety of alleged behaviors. But one case that especially stood out was filed by the United States and 17 states in 2023.  

The plaintiffs in that action alleged that Google monopolized the publisher ad server market in violation of the Sherman Act, an anti-trust measure. 

And in 2025, the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that Google had “willfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts to acquire and maintain monopoly power in the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets for open web advertising,” according to a complaint filed by Penske Media Corp. (PMC) on Monday, as first reported by The Wrap. 

Penske is not a small player. It operates Billboard, Deadline, Rolling Stone, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, WWD, Sportico, among other brands. 

And now a federal court will have to make sense of the charges, the discovery process and how the programmatic ad markets work.  

PMC argues that its publishers were “not compensated as much as they would have been for their inventory had Google’s AdX demand been required to compete with third-party exchanges (i.e., non-Google exchanges) on a level playing field.”

That’s not all. “Rather than AdX submitting the highest bid available from its participating DSPs, based on the value of the impression to those DSPs, AdX shaved off the top because it knew the next highest price to beat,” the complaint continues.  

“Google’s contracts do not disclose or suggest that Google would depress bids for publishers despite promises of running a fair second- or first-price auction…or that Google would secretly depress bids on non-Google exchanges to coerce publishers to sell inventory to AdX." 

PMC is demanding injunctive relief, restitution and damages. 

Google had not filed a response at deadline.

The case is on file with the U.S. District Court Southern District of New York.