PubMatic files antitrust suit against Google as pressure mounts on adtech giant

PubMatic has filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the company of maintaining an illegal monopoly in the digital advertising market and obstructing fair competition. The case, lodged on September 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, seeks billions of dollars in damages and a jury trial.

This is the second lawsuit of its kind from a sell-side platform in recent weeks. OpenX initiated a similar claim in August, and other companies in the ad-tech sector, including Magnite, have hinted at possible legal action. The cases come in the wake of an April ruling in which Judge Leonie Brinkema found Google guilty of monopolizing publisher ad servers and ad exchanges. The upcoming remedies phase of that trial could determine whether Google will be forced to divest portions of its advertising business.

PubMatic, founded in 2006, operates a sell-side platform that helps publishers monetize their digital properties. The company alleges that Google has systematically restricted competition by leveraging acquisitions of rivals such as DoubleClick and Admeld, raising advertising costs and limiting publishers’ revenues. According to the filing, these practices reduced transparency and narrowed consumer choice by weakening the independent ad-tech ecosystem.

“Every time we adapted or innovated, Google found new ways to stack the deck,” PubMatic Co-Founder and CEO Rajeev Goel said in a statement. “These practices diverted billions in revenue away from independent platforms like ours and the publishers we support.”

The lawsuit follows years of tension between Google and competitors in the ad-tech market. During last year’s federal trial, testimony revealed that Google once considered acquiring PubMatic before ultimately purchasing Admeld. Regulators and industry rivals argue that such moves entrenched Google’s dominance and left smaller firms struggling to compete.

The Department of Justice has proposed remedies that range from data-sharing obligations to a possible breakup of Google’s ad-tech operations. Google, for its part, has suggested less drastic measures and has not yet publicly responded to PubMatic’s latest complaint.

With the remedies phase of the federal trial beginning later this month, PubMatic’s lawsuit adds to the growing list of challenges facing Google as regulators and industry players push back against its influence over the digital advertising market.