A bipartisan group of senators led by Utah Republican Mike Lee introduced legislation targeting conflicts of interest in the advertising technology industry, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The legislation could force Alphabet Inc. Google to break up its dominant online-ad business.
The Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act would prohibit companies processing over $20 billion in digital ad transactions annually from participating in more than one part of the digital advertising ecosystem.
It will require Google to divest significant portions of the digital advertising business it built following its 2008 acquisition of DoubleClick Inc. Google’s “network” business, which includes tools used by third parties to buy and sell ads, generated $31.7 billion in revenue in 2021….