A running list of publisher lawsuits targeting Google’s ad tech practices – Digiday

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The U.S. Justice Department’s ruling against Google for monopolizing digital advertising markets has opened the door for publishers to seek compensation for claimed lost revenue.
Last April, the court ruled that Google violated U.S. antitrust laws by monopolizing the markets for publisher ad servers – with DoubleClick for Publishers (rebranded to Google Ad Manager in 2018) – and ad exchanges – via AdX – by tying the products together. The trial now moves toward remedies. 
Several major U.S. publishers have filed lawsuits against Google in New York City, claiming that the tech giant’s dominance over ad servers and exchanges made it difficult for publishers to use other platforms, and kept prices for publisher inventory low. They want to be reimbursed. 
“The DOJ has done a lot of heavy lifting for [publishers],” said Gary Kibel, partner at law firm Davis+Gilbert, which advises media and advertising clients. “This judge has already ruled that [Google] engaged in anti-competitive behavior when it comes to the ad tech business. So you’re more than halfway there already… Now what the publishers then need to do is get a different judge in a different court to agree with that decision. But that may not be a huge lift.”
The harder lift, according to Kibel, will be for these publishers to show evidence of how they’ve been damaged by Google’s monopoly. 
“These publishers are going to have to prove not just that Google hurt the industry, but that Google hurt me [them]. They have to show that Google hurt [their] business by their anti-competitive behavior. That gets very fact-specific,” Kibel said.
Google is appealing the ruling.
All of the lawsuits allege that Google used its monopoly to control how publishers sell their ad slots, which forced publishers to sell larger shares of that ad space through Google, at depressed prices – leading to less revenue for publishers. They claim that Google’s ability to view competitors’ bids in ad auctions (called a “last look”) gave it an advantage over its competitors. Some of them repeat the same core clauses word for word in their lawsuits, signaling publishers’ legal teams are coordinating their claims and demands.
Here is an example of some of the claims from publishers filing lawsuits that are repeated verbatim in these lawsuits:
These publishers’ lawsuits urge the court to prohibit Google from tying its publisher ad server to its ad exchange and restore competition, and to be paid “compensatory damages.”
“The door’s open. Now the question is, who’s going to run through it?” Kibel said.
Digiday has compiled a running list of publishers’ lawsuits against Google for its ad tech practices, organized by most recent filing date, rather than in chronological order. We will continue to update this tracker, if and when new lawsuits are filed. All of these publishers are represented by the same law firm – Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick – and the complaints were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Date of lawsuit filing: January 14, 2026
Main claims:
Date of lawsuit filing: January 14, 2026
Main claims:
Date of lawsuit filing: January 14, 2026
Main claims:
Date of lawsuit filing: January 13, 2026
Main claims:
Date of lawsuit filing: January 12, 2026
Main claims:
Penske Media has a separate lawsuit against Google for the use of its AI summaries in search, AI Overviews, claiming the feature affects traffic and revenue.
Date of lawsuit filing: September 8, 2025
Main claims:
Date of lawsuit filing: August 29, 2025
Main claims:
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