Understanding Prebid’s Antitrust Policy: What Publishers Need to Know

Antitrust compliance is becoming a critical consideration for publishers using Prebid or participating in open header bidding. With intensifying regulatory scrutiny in digital advertising, understanding what you can and cannot do in industry forums is no longer optional—it’s essential for protecting your business, reputation, and revenue.

This guide unpacks Prebid.org’s antitrust policy in practical terms for publishers. We’ll outline the compliance guardrails, illustrate real-life risks, and highlight how to navigate industry collaboration safely, so your monetization efforts stay both innovative and fully above board.

The Basics: What Is Prebid’s Antitrust Policy?

Prebid.org is the industry body maintaining open-source header bidding tech. It mandates strict compliance with antitrust laws to ensure collaboration leads to transparent, interoperable standards—not to anti-competitive behavior. The policy is not just legal formality; it’s a set of concrete rules about what participants (publishers, vendors, SSPs, etc.) can discuss or share in Prebid meetings, channels, or development spaces.

What’s Off-Limits?

– Never share specifics about your floor prices, bids, fees, margin, supply costs, discounts, or operational plans.
– Don’t discuss or coordinate sales strategies, customers, employee compensation, hiring practices, or any subject that might influence your market behavior compared to peers in Prebid.
– Practical example: A publisher cannot ask another publisher what floor price they set for a particular inventory segment, even in a Prebid committee session.

Navigating Industry Collaboration Without Crossing the Line

Prebid aims to foster open technical standards, not commercial collusion. It’s important to draw a hard line on what information is considered “safe” to share and what isn’t. You can talk about industry trends, open-source tool improvements, or broad technical topics, but you must steer clear of anything transaction-specific or commercially sensitive.

Open Discussion vs. Restricted Topics

– Safe ground: Aggregate industry trends, legislative updates, or best practices for code implementation.
– Off-limits: Coordinating which SSPs to use, sharing GAM auction settings, or discussing technical blockers that could reveal private business strategies.
– Example: It’s fine to discuss aggregate performance of header bidding versus waterfall setups, but sharing your actual yield per partner would violate policy.

Real-World Scenarios Publishers Face

Everyday ad ops conversations sometimes slide into risky territory without anyone realizing. These situations can crop up in working groups, Slack channels, and even at Prebid-related social events.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

– Asking peers for pricing benchmarks or discussing detailed future tech roadmaps that might reveal competitive direction.
– Participating in off-the-record chats that attempt to coordinate blocks or demand exclusion for certain buyers or adapters.
– Responding to informal “how do you set up floors for X?” queries with transaction-level answers instead of general practices.

How Prebid Maintains a Compliant Environment

Prebid.org enforces structured meeting conduct to minimize legal risk. There’s always an agenda and set minutes to ensure nothing veers into unlawful territory. Reporting mechanisms exist if discussions get too close to antitrust boundaries, empowering publishers and tech teams to hit pause or escalate if needed.

Practical Safeguards

– All meetings have published agendas and documented minutes.
– Only high-level, aggregate, or technical topics are discussed.
– Any participant can flag questionable conversations, and proceedings must stop until legal counsel weighs in.
– No external communication on behalf of Prebid without formal clearance.

What this means for publishers

For publishers, Prebid’s antitrust rules aren’t just a legal technicality—they directly impact day-to-day ad ops, especially when participating in forums, working groups, or industry chats. Overstepping the line can expose your organization to audits, fines, or even lawsuits. Staying on script ensures your monetization strategies aren’t inadvertently compromised by non-compliant information sharing. Complying with the policy also preserves the value and trust in the open-source tools publishers rely on.

Practical takeaway

If you’re active in Prebid-related forums, committees, or working groups, always keep commercial and operational specifics out of the conversation. Focus on high-level tech improvements or aggregated industry data. Never feel pressure to answer questions about your pricing, auction setup, or demand partners in detail—redirect to public documentation or general practices if necessary.

Set internal guardrails for your ad ops and revenue teams that align with Prebid’s policy. Make reporting avenues clear, and train staff to identify red flags in conversations. This not only protects your own legal exposure but ensures you continue extracting full value from open-source collaboration, safely and sustainably.