In the advertising technology business, declaring that you have stopped doing something is not always the same as having stopped doing it.

That, at least, is the argument being advanced by Teads, an ad-tech platform that helps publishers monetize their digital properties, in a lawsuit filed against Google. The complaint alleges that certain anti-competitive practices — the kind that regulators and rivals have long complained about — were never truly retired, despite Google's public assurances to the contrary.

"We believe Google's practices artificially suppressed fair competition and hindered innovation," David Kostman, the chief executive of Teads, said in a statement.

The lawsuit takes particular aim at auction mechanics that Google has used over the years, including arrangements known in the trade as "First Look" and "Last Look," which Teads says gave Google's own advertising exchange an unfair advantage over independent competitors. Google has said it ended Last Look in 2019. Teads says that claim is, to put it politely, not accurate.

"Google has enacted additional auction rules across publisher inventory that substantively parallel Last Look," the complaint states. (In other words: the song may have a new title, but the melody remains the same.)

A Google spokesman called the allegations "meritless," adding that publishers and advertisers choose Google's tools because they are "effective, affordable, and easy to use" — a defense that has become familiar in the company's various legal entanglements.

Teads, which is publicly traded, acknowledged in a filing that the lawsuit could create additional risk for investors. Its stock is down nearly 68 percent over the past year, which suggests that investors were already well acquainted with risk.

The company is seeking treble damages and court-ordered changes to Google's business practices, though it did not specify a dollar figure. For an industry that has spent years waiting for someone — anyone — to meaningfully constrain Google's advertising machinery, this is at least another entry in the docket.

Original story published in adweek.com: "Teads Sues Google, Claiming Some Disputed Ad Practices Were Never Really Retired"