Two consumer advocacy groups asked the Federal Trade Commission to block Google's acquisition of the mobile ad network AdMob, alleging that the deal would dilute competition and saddle consumers with higher prices.
The two groups, Center for Digital Democracy and Consumer Watchdog, also claim that the deal raises privacy concerns because of the online behavior data the two companies gather, The Wall Street Journal reports. AdMob utilizes behavioral targeting to serve mobile ads, utilizing data such as age, gender, and education. Both groups claim a Google/AdMob union would give the companies too much information for tracking, targeting, and profiling consumers.
For its part, Google refuted anti-trust concerns by saying it would be impossible to calculate market share among the dozens of mobile ad networks. If the acquisition were to go through, Google would pay $750 million for AdMob.
