The news: Google faces another anticompetitive accusation as ad tech company OpenX becomes the latest player to challenge Google’s grip on the digital advertising ecosystem.

OpenX filed a lawsuit accusing Google of anticompetitive conduct in the digital ad space, claiming the company’s actions “crippled competitors like OpenX at every turn,” preventing fair competition. The company also claimed that Google “coerced publishers not to work with OpenX through illegal tying arrangements” while hiding its conduct from advertising customers.

Another controversy: The accusations, outlined in an 88-page lawsuit, come on the heels of a string of legal struggles for Google.

• The US Department of Justice is moving forward with an antitrust lawsuit against Google that would dismantle its ad tech dominance, with proposed remedies including financial, structural, and behavioral changes that would require Google to divest its sell-side ad tech.
• The DOJ’s lawsuit itself came after two federal judges ruled that Google maintains an illegal monopoly in some digital ad tech markets, depriving competitors of the “ability to compete.”
• The European Court of Justice ruled in 2024 that Google must pay a €2.4 billion ($2.6 billion) fine for abusing market dominance in the shopping space by making its recommendations more prominent in search results than rivals.
• Further regulatory scrutiny is mounting against Google, with the company facing numerous antitrust cases and lawsuits over its data collection practices.