# Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act

This bill aims to make the digital advertising market more competitive and transparent by limiting the power of large tech companies that currently dominate online advertising. Right now, companies like Google and Meta control huge portions of the digital ad market—they own the platforms where ads appear, the tools that buy and sell ads, and the systems that measure whether ads work. This bill would require these companies to separate these different roles so they can't use their power in one area to unfairly advantage themselves in another.

The practical effect is that the bill would prevent tech giants from favoring their own advertising services over competitors' services, and it would require them to share more information about how ads are bought, sold, and priced. Think of it like preventing a company that owns both a grocery store and a food supplier from always stocking only their own brand while hiding their pricing from other suppliers. The bill would also give the Federal Trade Commission stronger tools to enforce these rules and break up companies that continue to violate them.

Who does this affect? If you run a small business that advertises online, this could mean better prices and more options for where to buy ads, since smaller ad platforms would have a fairer chance to compete. If you work in the advertising industry, you might see more competition and different business opportunities. For regular people using social media and search engines, the changes might be less visible day-to-day, but the goal is to create a healthier market that could eventually lead to better services and potentially less invasive advertising practices. Large tech companies would face significant restrictions on how they operate their advertising businesses.

Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act

Lee, Mike

Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act This bill limits certain large digital advertising companies from owning multiple types of advertising exchanges or brokerages and imposes certain duties with respect to the interests of the customers of such brokerages. Advertising exchanges and brokerages generally facilitate advertisers and publishers in buying and selling advertising inventory through an automated bidding process. Specifically, companies with more than $20 billion in annual digital advertising revenue are prohibited from owning more than one type of service within the digital advertising marketplace. For example, a company, such as Google, may not own a digital advertising exchange and provide software that assists publishers of online advertisements in selling advertising space on their websites. Additionally, companies with more than $5 billion in annual digital advertising revenue that provide brokerage services to buyers or sellers of digital advertisements must act in the best interest of their brokerage customers. The bill also establishes transparency and privacy requirements for such brokerages. The bill provides for enforcement of these requirements by the Department of Justice, state attorneys general, and private right of action.