This US Senate bill could harm Google’s entire advertising business

This US Senate bill could harm Google’s entire advertising business. This will force the giant to withdraw from many advertising markets.

A bill that could destroy the entire Google ad business if passed has just been introduced in the United States Senate. The Digital Advertising Competition and Transparency Act, currently supported by both parties, will prevent companies that make more than $20 billion a year from digital advertising transactions from “participating in more than one aspect of the digital advertising ecosystem,”according to The Wall Street Journal..

This US Senate bill could harm Google’s entire advertising business

Google easily falls into this category. Mountain View generated at least $54.7 billion in ad revenue in the last quarter alone. While other companies reach this milestone, Google is involved in many aspects of the advertising process. The American giant has an exchange that ad networks are betting on. It also offers tools to help companies buy and sell ads.

The House of Representatives version of this text is to be submitted shortly. If this proposal becomes law, then Google will have to leave some of these market segments. After the promulgation of the law, the giant will have one year to comply. Meta may also be affected by this law.

“When you have Google acting as both a seller and a buyer and managing the exchange, it results in an unfair and excessive market advantage that doesn’t necessarily reflect the value they offer,”Sen. Mike Lee (D-Utah) said.. to the magazine. “When a company can wear all these hats at the same time, it can hurt everyone.”

This will force the giant to withdraw from many advertising markets.

Mike Lee is the first member of the Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights. Committee Chairman Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) is a co-sponsor of the bill, as are Senators Ted Cruz (D-Texas) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut).

“Advertising tools from Google and many competitors are helping US sites and apps fund their content, grow their businesses, and protect users from privacy threats and other false advertising,”said a Google spokesperson at Engadget. “Removing these tools will impact publishers and advertisers, the quality of ads, and create new privacy risks. And at a time when inflation is very high, this will discourage small businesses looking for simple and effective ways to grow online. The real problem is the poor quality of the data brokers that threaten the privacy of Americans and flood them with bad publicity. In short, it’s a bad score

Among other issues raised by this bill, companies that make at least $5 billion in advertising deals per year will be required to provide a transparent price list and act in the best interests of their customers. These clients will also have the opportunity to sue in case of non-compliance.

Other segments are currently in development legally against the tech giants. The Amy Klobuchar Online Innovation and Choice Act prohibits companies from prioritizing their own products over competitors’ products on their own platform. For example, Apple will not be able to rank its own apps above third-party apps in App Store search results.