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But
U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel dismissed some other antitrust
claims, including those focused on ad-buying tools used by large
advertisers.
Castel was reviewing a number of cases against Google, and his
decision struck down many claims but allowed at least one key
set to proceed.
The advertisers, he wrote, "have not plausibly alleged antitrust
standing in the markets for ad-buying tools used by large
advertisers, but they plausibly allege antitrust standing as to
injuries they purportedly suffered from anti-competitive
practices in the ad-exchange market and the market for small
advertisers' buying tools."
Castel also said Gannett, the largest U.S. newspaper chain and
publisher of USA Today, could try in a separate case to prove
that Google fraudulently concealed anticompetitive effects of
some technology. Gannett alleged that it sold some of its ad
space directly to advertisers, but Google still made the
inventory available for auction on its ad exchange in order to
accrue transaction fees for its own benefit.
Google and Gannett did not immediately respond to requests for
comment.
The judge also ruled in multiple other cases in the nationwide
litigation.
Google faces a number of claims on antitrust grounds.
The U.S. Justice Department sued Google in January 2023,
accusing it of abusing its dominance in digital advertising. The
government asked for the divestiture of the Google Ad Manager
suite, including Google's ad exchange, AdX.
Google Ad Manager is a suite of tools including one that allows
websites to offer advertising space for sale and an exchange
that serves as a marketplace that automatically matches
advertisers with those publishers.
Advertisers and website publishers have complained that Google
has not been transparent about where ad dollars go, specifically
how much goes to publishers and how much to Google.
(Reporting By Jon Stempel and Sheila Dang; editing by Peter
Henderson and Leslie Adler)
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