The Atlantic, Penske Media, Vox sue Google over alleged ad auction manipulation

Three major publishers — The Atlantic, Penske Media and Vox — have filed separate lawsuits alleging Google manipulates ad auctions and rigs bids. Penske Media owns titles such as Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Billboard and Vibe.

In their complaints, the publishers allege that Google intentionally undercut publishers in ad auctions for more than a decade, depressing prices and causing significant revenue losses.

“Google uses this monopoly to control how publishers sell their ad slots, forcing publishers to sell growing shares of that ad space through Google at depressed prices,” The Atlantic alleged in its complaint. “The result is dramatically less revenue for publishers and Google’s ad-tech rivals, while Google reaps exorbitant monopoly profits.”

The Atlantic’s lawsuit claims Google made “$30 billion from manipulating auctions for ad space across the Internet,” in 2022 alone. These lawsuits come less than a year after a federal judge found Google was a monopolist in two ad tech markets in online advertising. That trial is now in the remedies phase.

Other publishers, including Business Insider, People Inc. and Slate have filed similar lawsuits in recent months.

Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next, a trade group for digital content providers, told The Current that the timing reflects a shifting legal landscape.

“Courts, including SDNY (the Southern District of New York), are now relying on and adopting the detailed findings of fact from the Eastern District of Virginia, which established Google’s ad tech monopolization and illegal conduct,” Kint said. “At this point, the primary question is damages  — and the evidence shows those damages extend well beyond a supra-competitive take rate to include auction manipulation that may have disproportionately harmed premium publishers with high-value inventory, context and data.”

All three lawsuits seek monetary damages, a jury trial and a court order declaring Google violated the Sherman Act.

The Atlantic, Penske Media and Google did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement published by The Information, a Google spokesperson called Penske’s allegations “meritless.”

The same law firm — Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, PLLC — represents all six of the publishers who have filed lawsuits claiming Google manipulated auctions.

Penske Media (PMC) claims Google’s anticompetitive conduct directly reduced the value of its inventory and overall revenue.

“PMC relied on Google to operate honest advertising auctions to facilitate the sale of PMC’s advertising inventory. By manipulating auctions run by DFP and intermediated through AdX, Google artificially depressed the price of PMC’s display advertising inventory to Google’s benefit,” according to the Penske complaint.

The publishers also asserted that “each time publishers find a way to work around Google’s latest anticompetitive move — e.g., using house line items post-UPR (Unified Pricing Rules) — Google quickly finds a way to kill it.”

Publishers find it impossible to run away from Google

The lawsuits argue that Google systematically eliminated competition by tying its publisher ad server (DFP) to its ad exchange (AdX), forcing publishers to use Google’s tools. Judge Leonie Brinkema made the same finding when she ruled Google illegally acquired and maintained monopolies in two ad tech markets in online advertising in April 2025.

When ad exchanges competed head-to-head, publishers’ clearing prices rose by an average of 40%, according to the filings. “Google therefore knew that its ad server, while supposedly a tool to maximize publishers’ revenue, in fact operated against publishers’ interests,” the lawsuit claims.

Google also allegedly raised its buy-side fees from 15% to 32% when advertisers used Google Ads as its DSP but routed through a different exchange.

The publishers allege the mechanics of Google’s conduct evolved over time, but the outcome remained the same. “Google manipulates the process of real-time bidding to exclude rival exchanges and underpay for publisher inventory.”