FTC Opens New Antitrust Investigation over Google Display Ads

Google’s digital advertising strategies may once again be the subject of a probe to determine whether “unfair methods of competition” have occurred in Google’s dominance over the competition in online display advertising. Following just five months after The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) closed a two year anti-trust investigation of Google’s search business without taking action, the Commission has opened a subsequent, preliminary investigation into Google’s DoubleClick ad network and its planning and buying tools. In January, under a consent order reached with the FTC, Google agreed it would not block its rivals from obtaining access to patents essential to key technologies. In addition, the order dictated that Google will not seek injunctions to block rivals from using those patents. In a separate agreement, Google agreed to remove restrictions that hampered advertisers' management of ad campaigns across competing ad platforms and agreed to offer companies the option of keeping their content out of Google’s search results.