Business Insider sues Google over alleged manipulation of digital ad markets

Business Insider has filed a complaint accusing Google of unlawfully monopolising digital advertising markets and suppressing publisher revenues.

On September 8, Insider, the publisher of Business Insider, lodged a 89-page lawsuit in the New York court against the tech giant and its parent company Alphabet. According to the report, the publisher alleges that the tech company engaged in a long-running scheme to dominate advertising technology and deprive publishers of fair revenue.

The action seeks damages and injunctive relief intended to restore competition in what are described as monopolised markets and to safeguard funding for independent journalism.

The publisher also claims that the company manipulated ad auctions and real-time ad bidding through various practices; Last look, which gave the company’s Adx the ability to see competitors’ bids before placing its own; dynamic allocation, which enables non-guaranteed demand to compete against guaranteed campaigns for impressions; and Unified Auctions’ minimum bid to win scheme, which gives the company the ability to see the lowest price at which a winner could have won a given impression. 

Google’s control of two key advertising products is central to the case: its publisher ad server, DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP), and its ad exchange, DoubleClick Ad Exchange (AdX). According to the report, the company linked these products in a way that forced publishers to use DFP to access AdX, where many advertisers are concentrated. 

With DFP covering more than 90% of the publisher ad server market and AdX managing 60- 70% of exchange-based ad sales, the complaint says this arrangement left publishers with little choice, reduced competition, and allowed the company to collect monopoly profits.

According to the report, Google introduced a system after acquiring DoubleClick in 2008 that allowed AdX to bid dynamically in real time, while rival exchanges could only submit static bids based on historical averages. 

The report adds that other practices were also employed to reinforce Google’s dominance and distort pricing in digital advertising.

The case follows a series of regulatory findings against Google’s advertising operations worldwide. In April 2025, a federal court in Virginia concluded that the company had engaged in anticompetitive conduct to maintain monopoly power in the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets.

According to the report, Business Insider contends that Google’s conduct has cost publishers hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue, with direct implications for funding journalism. The lawsuit, filed under the Sherman Act, alleges monopolisation, attempted monopolisation and unlawful tying, in addition to claims of fraud and unjust enrichment.

If upheld, the case could add momentum to ongoing regulatory and legal actions targeting Google’s role in advertising technology and alter the structure of the digital advertising market.