The Senate Takes Aim at Google

A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation yesterday that would force Google to break up its dominant online-ad business, if passed.

📝 More deets: The bill would ban companies that process more than $20 billion annually in digital ad transactions from participating in more than one part of the digital ad process, and require companies presiding over more than $5 billion in digital ads to follow new rules.

• In effect, the legislation would force Google to divest a substantial chunk of its digital advertising business, where it's been “simultaneously serving as a seller and a buyer and running an exchange,” per Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT).
• Meta’s Facebook would also likely be required to lose “significant portions” of its advertising business under the new proposal, sources told the WSJ.

🏛️ Zoom out: Two other bills aimed at Big Tech have received bipartisan support from the Senate Judiciary Committee in recent months, setting them up for possible floor votes.

• The American Innovation and Choice Online Act would ban Big Tech companies from favoring their own services in an anticompetitive way, while the Open App Markets Act would ban app store operators like Apple and Google from requiring use of their own in-app payment systems.