DOJ

A weekly comic strip from AdExchanger.com that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem…

Do a word search of the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Google, filed on Tuesday, and you won’t find … a single reference to DoubleClick, YouTube or DV360. As expected, the focus of the DOJ’s long-awaited filing, the result of an investigation that began well over a year ago, is squarely on Google’s alleged (gotta […]

“You’ll Never Guess Which Two Content Recommendation Engines Have Decided NOT To Merge!” No need to click, we’ll tell you. The Taboola/Outbrain merger will no longer happen. There are two primary reasons why the deal will not move forward, according to a source directly familiar with the matter but unable to speak publicly due to […]

Rush Job The Department of Justice could bring its antitrust case against Google by the end of this month, despite pleas from career lawyers to wait and build a stronger case against the tech giant, sources tell The New York Times. Some lawyers working on the case either refused to sign the complaint or left […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. These Boots Were Made For Frauding There’s nothing more creative than … a fraudster. White Ops recently uncovered a scheme involving a family of Android apps that trick people into downloading them with the promise of free stuff. Starting in late 2019, the apps began showing […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Viva La Pérsonalization The French government will loosen archaic laws this month that have undercut French broadcasters for years. The biggest change will be to repeal a 1993 law that says all French households must receive the same broadcast stream. So French TV stations […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Anti-Antitrust What happens when companies being investigated by the FTC or the DOJ poach staffers for their own defense? Unfortunately, it’s not a hypothetical, writes antitrust economist Hal Singer at The American Prospect. Amazon and Facebook both recently hired staffers from the Senate Judiciary […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Ducks In A Row The US Justice Department’s antitrust investigation of Google is coming to a close. By the end of July, the DOJ seeks to have final documents and data from competitors that have allegedly been hurt by Google’s dominance in online advertising, […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Day Of Reckoning The Justice Department is plodding ahead with an investigation into Google’s dominance of online advertising, including allegations that the tech giant abuses its control over search advertising to harm competitors, two people familiar with the investigation told The New York Times. […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Do Not Merge A group of antitrust economists filed comments on the new DOJ/FTC draft guidelines for vertical mergers, calling the new draft “excessively permissive” for large companies. Historically, antitrust cases focus on horizontal acquisitions, when a company buys a direct competitor. But old […]

Big tech can’t swing a cat these days without hitting an antitrust investigation. Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple are all facing varying degrees of heat from the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, state attorneys general across the nation, the House Judiciary Committee and competition authorities around the world. It’s hard to keep track […]

In May, during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee about the impact of data privacy and competition policy on the digital ad ecosystem, former AppNexus CEO Brian O’Kelley told lawmakers that Google and Facebook deserve to be broken up. “Let’s apply some common sense to the regulatory process just by acknowledging that consumers pay […]

Until now, if an ad fraud scam was uncovered, the criminals behind it would usually fade back into the shadows with impunity, and shortly thereafter, they’d be back at it again – the seemingly eternal game of Whac-A-Mole. This time, there’s accountability. Two global botnets, Methbot and 3ve, are no more, and there are real people […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Back To The Bench The US Justice Department is appealing the decision by Senior US District Court Judge Richard Leon to allow AT&T to acquire Time Warner. “Most legal observers believe the government faces an uphill battle in overturning the ruling,” reports The Wall […]

The trial that will resolve the US Justice Department’s challenge to AT&T’s $85 billion proposed acquisition of Time Warner will begin on Wednesday. The case, the first major US media merger to go to trial in decades, will indicate how the government may oversee telco and media consolidation going forward. If successful, the DOJ’s challenge […]

Google has agreed to pay $17 million to settle charges it dropped cookies on Safari Web browsers in defiance of the browser’s privacy settings. According to the settlement, from mid-2011 to early 2012, Google rejiggered DoubleClick coding to get around Apple’s default blocking of third-party cookies in Safari. When the charges were first publicized last […]