Senate bill could force Google, Meta to break up ad businesses
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Legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate Thursday would force Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) to break up its online advertising business - marking one of the most aggressive attempts to rein in big technology companies by lawmakers.
The Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act is targeting conflicts of interest in ad technology, and would block companies that process more than $20 billion a year in digital ad transactions from taking part in more than one part of the digital ad ecosystem.
That would hit Google, which dominates every part of the chain between buyers and sellers of online advertising, the WSJ notes - helping companies buy and sell ads as well as run the auction houses where ad transactions happen in split seconds.
It would also likely force divestments from Google's key digital ad rival, Facebook parent Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:FB), according to the report.
Along with the effects on Google and Meta, smaller companies - those hitting the smaller threshold of processing $5 billion in digital ad transactions annually - would have to follow new rules.
The bipartisan bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Ted Cruz, Amy Klobuchar and Richard Blumenthal.
Early Thursday: GOOG
+0.1%; GOOGL flat; FB
-0.1%.