Magnite, the biggest unbiased sell-side platform (SSP) within the advert business, filed a federal lawsuit in opposition to Google at the moment, alleging that the tech behemoth unlawfully monopolized the advert alternate and writer advert server markets. Google denies the allegations.

In an 81-page criticism reviewed by ADWEEK, Magnite claims that Google’s adtech practices restricted writer alternative, unfairly restricted competitors and client alternative, and hampered its enterprise. 

“Google’s exclusionary conduct has drastically altered the provision paths via which obtainable show promoting stock is offered, lowering payouts to publishers, burdening advertisers and publishers with lower-quality matches of ads to stock, and inhibiting alternative and innovation throughout the adtech stack,” the criticism reads.

The corporate alleges Google compelled advertisers who used Google Adverts, beforehand often known as AdWords, to purchase show advertisements by way of Google’s alternate, AdX, reasonably than giving them the choice to make use of different exchanges. AdX’s intractable integration with Google’s advert server additional locked advertisers into Google’s adtech stack, the lawsuit says. 

Google additionally manipulated advert auctions, implementing unfair pricing guidelines and adjusting revenue-sharing dynamically to favor Google, Magnite alleges. 

The supply-side platform claims Google has violated competition law in a new lawsuit that comes just a month after a similar complaint from OpenX.

In a single instance outlined within the lawsuit, Magnite factors to a 2017 scheme known as Mission Poirot internally at Google, which allegedly decreased bids from Google’s demand-side platform Show & Video 360 for impressions routed by way of rival exchanges.

Magnite claims that on account of Google’s anti-competitive adtech practices, it has misplaced income, market share, and scale. It cites cost-cutting efforts together with layoffs of greater than 13% of its workers—equating to over 100 jobs—in addition to compelled strategic shifts, and missed alternatives to benefit from rising advert codecs as tangible fallout from Google’s alleged habits. 

“Magnite was based to assist publishers thrive by maximizing their promoting yield via progressive expertise, trusted steerage, and a clear market that effectively connects them to patrons,” mentioned Michael Barrett, CEO of Magnite, in an announcement. “For years, Google undermined our means to execute on this mission with practices that favored its personal enterprise over the well being of the open internet, inflicting hurt to publishers, advertisers, and companions like us.”