Look out Google and Facebook, the US Senate is coming for your ad business. The Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act (CTDAA), which has recently been introduced to the Senate and has rare bipartisan support, seeks to uncouple companies that process more than $20 billion in digital ad revenue
from “participating in more than one part of the digital advertising ecosystem,” notes the Wall Street Journal. While Alphabet and Meta are clearly targeted by this bill, smaller firms may feel some effects too. As Engadget says, companies that process at least $5 billion in digital ads per year may “be required to provide transparent pricing and act in their customers' best interest. Customers would have the option to sue over breaches of those.”

• “Advertising tools from Google and many competitors help American websites and apps fund their content, help businesses grow, and help protect users from privacy risks and misleading ads,” a Google rep told Engadget. “The real issue is low-quality data brokers who threaten Americans’ privacy and flood them with spammy ads.”

The Antitrust Drum Beat

The call to break up the monopolies in Silicon Valley is so widespread that it has become an unlikely bipartisan issue in Washington. Beyond the CTDAA, Senate Democrat Amy Klobuchar has introduced the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, while Senate Republican Marsha Blackburn and Democrat Richard Blumenthal have introduced the Open App Markets Act.

The Verdict

Creating a more transparent digital ad market online just makes sense, even if Alphabet wants to go on about "low-quality brokers". The web cannot be run by two main companies, and Silicon Valley is aware of that too, but Alphabet and Meta won't go quietly over attacks on their core revenue source.