Next week, a federal court is kicking off a trial that could reshape the open web – and the future of digital publishing and advertising. The court has already ruled that Google exercised anticompetitive monopoly power in display advertising. But what happens next has implications far beyond just one company. One proposal on the table is forcing Google to sell off its ad tech. While that may sound decisive, simply swapping one owner for another could create new problems – and doesn’t guarantee a fairer marketplace. What matters most is fixing how the system actually works. We need a digital ads marketplace that is fair, while also keeping the Internet free and open for all. More of my thoughts in The Information: https://lnkd.in/gJs47AvN
Exactly. Kill the monopoly, not the monopolist. If the data / audiences etc being shared between different Google products were made available through APIs that other Ad Tech players could access at par with Google's own products - that alone levels the ground significantly.
Arpit Apoorva
1mo
Important points here Bill. True change won’t come from just changing ownership; the focus should be on making the digital ads system fair and transparent while keeping online content accessible for everyone.
Colin Sebastian
1mo
For those who don't subscribe to the Information, do you have a specific proposal for how this should work? Thanks Bill
Don Durand
2w
Thank you Bill, this is the kind of systemic thinking the industry desperately needs. The instinct to break up Google may feel satisfying, but it risks swapping one dominant player for another without changing the rules of the game. The deeper issue isn’t who owns the pipes; it’s how the plumbing works. We need to shift from ownership-based remedies to mechanism-based reform: transparency in pricing, separation of buy/sell conflicts, and incentives aligned with publishers and users. What would it take to get regulators and stakeholders to focus on these underlying mechanics instead of surface-level solutions? Appreciate your framing here, Bill, clear-eyed, not reactionary. It’s time we moved from headline fixes to structural ones.
Eric Seufert
1mo
I enjoyed this essay. Well argued.
Manish Tomer
3w
As long as we have these centralized ownership situations, the incentives will always lead to the same outcome. The platform serves itself, funded by those who pay for access. We cannot rely on a few companies pretending to be ‘not evil’ for the future of the web. That model made sense for the last 25 years while the web was scaling, but it’s no longer a fair bargain. The important thing is that we're finally at a stage where we can change the foundational architecture of how the internet and monetization work. The old model isn't the only way forward. Thoughts on this? - https://testnet.inomy.shop/blog/Open-Monetization-Layer
What specific changes do you think would be necessary to ensure a truly fair digital advertising marketplace, beyond just altering ownership?
Dava CS
1mo
Bill Ready Big moment ahead. Do you think breaking up ad tech ownership actually solves the monopoly problem or does real fairness come from rethinking the market rules themselves. Would be good to get your take.
The rise of OpenAI (and AI in general) demonstrates that Google is just as vulnerable to competition as any company is. The market will sort this out if it's left to do so, which it hopefully will be. In the next 10 years advertising is going to change *drastically* because of AI. The entire ecosystem is going to change. Open web content will be increasingly paid for through micropayments (instead of ads) while the AI answer engines will change the role of the open web to that of a raw knowledge feed. I know of one startup packed full of adtech industry vets who are serious about solving this problem, and they are going to transform the ad industry's economics in doing so. It's going to make this complaint about Google look very silly in retrospect.
CEO at Pinterest
1moHere is the main takeaway from my op-ed. Divesting Google’s ad business risks new problems and prolonged accountability issues. A remedy should include the following: - Publishers need open access to advertisers on Google’s exchange, regardless of tools. - Ad auctions require neutral rules, genuine transparency, and credible enforcement. There is a clear ability to impose those on Google and there may not be on an unknown new owner.