By Illustration: The Verge
Gannett filed a federal lawsuit against Google and parent company Alphabet on Tuesday, alleging that Google has monopolies on the ad tech market that have hurt local news. “The lawsuit seeks to restore competition in the digital advertising marketplace and end Google’s monopoly, which will encourage investment in newsrooms and news content throughout the country,” Gannett wrote in a press release.
In its lawsuit, Gannett argues that although the digital ad market has exploded, publishers do not see as much of that money because Google and Alphabet have “acquired and maintain monopolies” for ad tech used to buy and sell ads by linking Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords) with the AdX exchange where publishers sell their inventory….