Jedi Blue: States Sue Google, Alledge Anti-Competitive Behavior in Ad Markets
I thought the class might appreciate some more color on real world ad auctions in complement to chapter 15 of the course text.
Over a dozen state Attorney’s General have recently filed a lawsuit alleging anti-competitive practices by Google in regards to the online advertising market. In the suit, they criticize Google project “Jedi Blue”, which they allege is an attempt to defeat header bidding, a competing bidding technology to Google’s own markets.
A Twitter thread from CEO of Digital Content Next, a trade association for the digital content industry, contains an excellent breakdown of the recently published lawsuit.
According to an NY Mag Article, “Google would give Facebook preferential rates and first dibs on prime ad placement. Facebook would support Google’s efforts and decline to build competing ad technologies or to use header bidding.”
Google also allegedly gave Facebook information on clicks identified as fraudlent — made by bot accounts rather than actual users — while withholding said information from other bidders.
At a Senate hearing earlier this year, a competiting industry CEO remarked that “it’s like saying CarMax has the ability to tell when they have a junky used car, and they don’t tell you.”
The suit raised questions about the Sherman Act, as Google’s competitive practices come under increasing scruitny.