Gannett Case Is Added to Google Digital Advertising Antitrust MDL

Gannett's lawsuit against Google was accepted as a related case in Google Digital Advertising Antitrust Litigation in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan, said U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel's Thursday order (21-md-3010). Gannett v. Google will be coordinated for pretrial proceedings with the multidistrict litigation and is subject to all existing and future orders and schedules of the New York district court entered in the MDL without prejudice to its right to seek certain modifications appropriate to its circumstance, said the order. Gannett sued Google Tuesday (see 2306220028) for antitrust violations in its digital advertising business. Gannett alleges Google manipulates “real-time bidding,” monopolizes publisher ad serving, “abuses” the Google DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) ad platform to monopolize the market for ad exchanges, manipulates DFP to “artificially deflate bids from rival exchanges” and eliminates price floors while imposing unified pricing rules.