New US Senate Bill Would Require Google to Break its Ad-Business

A bipartisan group of US Senators has submitted a bill that could require Google to sell most of its ad tech business if the bill goes into effect. A bill on competition and transparency in digital advertising laws has been introduced to bring regulation and transparency to the online advertising business.

As the Wall Street Journal first reported, the bill bans companies processing more than $20 billion in digital advertising transactions annually from participating in multiple parts of the digital advertising ecosystem.

As per the bill, if it is approved then no business with over $20 billion in digital ad revenue can own a digital advertising exchange if the business owns a demand-side platform or sell-side platform or if it also sells digital advertising space. 

The bill has additionally proposed that agencies that procedure at least $5 billion of advert transactions each year could be required to offer obvious pricing and act in their customers' high-quality interests.

The bill addressed allegations filed in the 2020 antitrust lawsuit proceedings against Google by more than 12 Attorney Generals led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The proceedings alleged that Google has misled advertisers and publishers for years about the pricing and process of ad auctions.