REPORT: DOJ Turns Up The Heat On Google, Will Investigate Tech Giant’s Ad Tools
The Department of Justice is reaching out to dozens of Google’s largest rivals to determine how the tech giant’s advertising business model is impacting the industry, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
DOJ officials are asking Google’s rivals about how the company’s third-party advertising model affects advertisers, the report noted, citing sources familiar with the probe. The agency is homing in on the company’s acquisition of DoubleClick, which is believed to be the source of Google’s power.
They are focusing in particular on two main elements: Google’s integration of the tools it provides to websites to put ad space up for sale with its ad exchange; and the company’s move to require advertisers to use its own equipment when buying digital real estate on Google-owned YouTube.
The tech giant’s rivals say investigators are asking the right questions.
“They are zooming in on the right topics, and that’s a good thing,” Michael Nevins, an executive at Smart AdServer, one of Google’s main ad technology rivals, told TheWSJ.
All of the scrutiny is causing Google executives to mull the possibility of divesting themselves of DoubleClick, the report noted, citing people familiar with the situation. The ad tool is becoming less important in an age of smart phones and handheld devices, thus opening up the possibility of dropping DoubleClick.
Google is officially dismissing that possibility, though. “We have no plans to sell or exit this business,” Google spokeswoman Julie Tarallo McAlister told TheWSJ. “We’re deeply committed to providing value to a wide array of publisher and advertiser partners in a highly competitive sector.”
Neither Google nor the DOJ have responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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If you want to beat Google at their own game, NEVER let them see a user’s device when you use a virtual private browser.
A virtual private browser runs on a server in the cloud and NOT on a user’s device. Google and Big Tech identify and track a server and not the user. Google delivers ads to someone they can never identify. The user still gets the data from Google but Google gets no accurate info from the user.