A bipartisan bill targets Google’s ad biz, while Congress faces crunch time to regulate Big Tech

Bipartisanship lives… Democrats and Republicans agree on something: a bipartisan group of senators have introduced a bill that would force Google to break up its hugely lucrative ad biz. It’s one of the toothier antitrust bills winding its way through Congress.

• The issue: Google (in)famously has a stake in all aspects of the online ad marketplace: it owns the tools that companies use to buy and sell ads, plus the biggest exchange where the buying and selling happens.
• The criticism: Critics say the dominant position makes Google a monopoly, allowing it to set the terms of the market as buyer, seller, and broker.
• The bill: The Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act (mouthful) would bar public companies that have $20B in annual ad sales from operating on more than one side of the ad ecosystem.

Antitrust cheat sheet… The bill is aimed directly at Google, which brought in a whopping $55B from ads last quarter alone. But it’s not the only regulation targeting Big Tech’s market power that has found bipartisan momentum in DC. Also in play:

• Cracking open the app stores: One piece of legislation would force Apple and Google to open their app stores to third-party competitors.
• No more playing favorites: A similar bill would prevent platforms like Amazon from favoring their own products and services over others.