Spaghetti Footballs of Antitrust

Google in Court Now

Forget pop-ups and annoying banners; the DOJ's case alleges that Google’s real "ad-blocking" game was aimed at its rivals.

According to the DOJ, Google’s business strategy wasn’t just about dominating the market—it was about keeping everyone else out. By allegedly rigging the auction system, manipulating access to data, and strong-arming publishers, Google is said to have effectively ‘blocked’ competition, leaving other ad tech companies with nowhere to go.

The irony? The biggest "blocker" in the ad world may turn out to have been Google itself, using its power to make sure competitors would struggle to compete.

🤓 The Best Reads

Normally, I’d be all over covering this case, but my day job takes priority.

Fortunately, there are others doing an outstanding job.

It’s not your typical mainstream coverage—it’s from "our" peeps: digital advertising and ad tech experts who are in the courtroom daily, delivering real-time insights.

Their detailed updates are exactly what our industry needs. I only wish we had this level of business coverage all the time.

Here are the must-follows you need to check out right now.

The Monopoly Report by Ari Paparo

Ari's Monopoly Report from Marketecture.tv offers some sharp and often amusing insights into the complexities of the ongoing Google antitrust trial. Here are a few standout moments from his coverage that make his newsletter a must-read:

• Day 1: The Opening Gambit
  Ari sums up Google’s defense as a mix of “legitimate points and epic bullshit.” He mocks their argument that “there’s no such thing as open web advertising,” as if they’re pretending their own tools don’t exist.
• Day 4: The Unified Price Debacle
  Google’s attempt to enforce the same pricing rules across exchanges backfired, causing uproar among publishers. Ari captures the chaos perfectly, highlighting Google’s frantic damage control after an embarrassing meeting.
• Day 7: The Wall
  Google’s efforts to block header bidding? Ari describes it as building a wall around their empire, complete with internal squabbles and absurd technical excuses like “running out of servers.” It’s ad tech as high drama.
• Day 9: Professor Lee’s Testimony
  Professor Robin Lee’s takedown of Google’s monopolistic practices is a courtroom thriller, with Ari translating dry stats into a compelling narrative of market manipulation and broken competition.
• Auction Manipulation & Project Bernanke
  Ari peels back the layers on Google’s Project Bernanke, showing how they rigged auctions to inflate prices and maintain control, even when it meant playing dirty against advertisers.

US vs Google by CheckMyAds

US v. Google newsletter by Check My Ads provides an excellent POV on the trial, blending legal analysis with industry insights.

Arielle Garcia is the Director of Intelligence at Check My Ads, a digital advertising watchdog focused on exposing harmful practices in the ad tech industry. She brings extensive experience in privacy, data ethics, and responsible media to her role.

Before joining Check My Ads, Garcia was the Chief Privacy and Responsibility Officer at UM Worldwide, where she launched the agency's privacy and responsibility practice and advocated for transparency and ethical practices in the advertising space.

Here are some highlights from Garcia's latest daily posts:

• Control & Complexity Unmasked
  Google’s “Spaghetti Football” diagram was supposed to confuse, but it ended up revealing the company’s stranglehold on the market. The DOJ tore it apart, and CheckMyAds breaks down the fallout.
• Monopoly Power & Market Manipulation
  They expose how Google’s leadership prioritized dominance over fairness, making decisions that undercut publishers and partners for the sake of control.
• Revelations of Market Abuse
  Google’s display ad hegemony, fueled by its search power and ad server dominance, comes under the microscope here. CheckMyAds highlights how Google systematically crushed competition.
• Obfuscation & Legal Tactics
  Throughout the trial, Google’s defense was more smoke and mirrors than substance, as they tried to muddy the waters rather than challenge the DOJ’s evidence head-on.

They even made a US vs Google crossword puzzle 😂.

Other trial coverage worth a look

US v. Google: all the news from the search antitrust showdown

A 10-week fight over the future of search.

The Verge

U.S. v. Google: Ad tech antitrust trial by numbers — so far

Trial evidence reveals the (until now) hidden extent of the shadow Google casts over the ad-supported internet.

DigidayRonan Shields, Marty Swant

Inside Google’s Adtech Antitrust Trial

Witnesses from Index Exchange, Gannett, and Kevel shared how they struggled to compete with Google’s adtech.

AdweekCatherine Perloff

Monopolist

Resource: 3-minute read to get you caught up on the court’s verdict against Google, declaring it a “monopolist.”

ADLINGOTravis Lusk

#90: Google Anti-Trust Case Day #3

What is the meaning of “meaningful”?

Quo VadisQuo Vadis