United States – Business Insider has filed a major antitrust lawsuit accusing Google LLC and its parent Alphabet Inc. of using monopoly power in digital advertising technology markets to squeeze publishers and distort auction mechanisms, ultimately harming content creators and the public interest.
The complaint, filed September 8, 2025 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, asks for both damages and injunctive relief to restore competition.
What Insider alleged
Insider, the publisher of Business Insider, argues that Google has long dominated key segments of the ad tech infrastructure—especially publisher ad servers and ad exchanges—and has enforced its dominance through a range of practices that depress revenues for publishers while boosting Google’s profits.
The complaint leans on findings in a 2025 ruling out of the Eastern District of Virginia, which held that Google had “willfully engaged in anticompetitive acts” in monopolising both publisher ad server and ad exchange markets.
According to Insider, Google’s DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) controls more than 90% of the global publisher ad server market, while its DoubleClick Ad Exchange (AdX) holds 60-70% of the ad exchange market. Publishers, including Business Insider, are allegedly forced to use DFP and participate in AdX to reach advertisers at scale.
How Google supposedly depressed publisher revenue
Insider’s complaint details several specific practices:
- Dynamic Allocation / “First Look”: Google purportedly set up a system in which its AdX had priority over other ad exchanges. Other exchanges were only given a chance to compete via static pre-set bids that often understate what they would have bid in real-time auctions. This structure allegedly allowed AdX to win many impressions at low margins.
- “Last Look” Insider Trading: Even when publishers used header bidding (which lets multiple exchanges bid simultaneously), Google allegedly obtained competitors’ bid information and then manipulated AdX’s bidding to beat them by the slimmest margin, often retaining inside information about rival bids in advance.
- Unified Auction & “Minimum Bid to Win”: After 2019, Google introduced a “Unified Auction” structure and a related concept called “Minimum Bid to Win” that mirror many of the same competitive advantages, according to the complaint. Google allegedly routes information to its AdX and uses past data to rig future auctions in its favour.
These practices are alleged to have depressed the price publishers receive for many impressions and reduced the ability of rival ad exchanges to compete fairly. Insider argues that this harms not only its bottom line but also its ability to invest in journalism and content.
Legal claims and what Insider is asking for
Business Insider accuses Google of several violations under U.S. antitrust law (including the Sherman Act) and state law. Key claims include:
- Monopolisation of the markets for publisher ad servers and ad exchanges.
- Attempted monopolisation and unlawful tying, particularly tying the ad server product to the ad exchange to force use of Google’s tools.
- State law claims including deceptive business practices in violation of New York law, common-law fraud, and unjust enrichment.
Insider is seeking monetary compensation, and injunctive relief—i.e. court orders to reform Google’s business practices in these markets.
Broader context
This lawsuit joins a growing wave of legal and regulatory pressure on Google’s ad-tech business. In January 2023, the US government and several states sued Google for similar monopolisation and tying claims. In April 2025, Judge Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia issued a key opinion finding that Google had committed anticompetitive wrongdoing in the same markets.
Last September, global adtech firm PubMatic has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, accusing the tech giant of monopolistic behaviour in the adtech market. The suit claims that Google’s dominance has blocked fair competition, hurting publishers and inflating costs for advertisers.
