Early Thursday morning The Federal Trade Commission, by a 4-1 vote, said it will not seek to block DoubleClick’s 3.1 billion acquisition of search giant Google.

Several competitors including Microsoft have made claims that the deal raised too many concerns about privacy since the proposed deal was announced more than eight months ago.

The FTC concluded that Google and DoubleClick “are not direct competitors in any relevant antitrust market eliminating the need for further analysis.”

The FTC statement went on to say, “Although interested parties have raised concerns about the proposed acquisitions impact on consumer privacy, the commission observed that such issues are not unique to Google and DoubleClick, and extend to the entire online advertising marketplace.”

It also said that, “The agency’s evidence showed that current competition among firms in this market is vigorous, and will likely increase. The evidence also indicates that Google’s entry, even if it were to be successful, likely would not have a significant impact on competition.”
Read the full FTC statement.

The single dissenting vote was cast by Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour, who voted against the deal “because I make alternate predictions about where this market is heading, and the transformative role the combined Google/DoubleClick will play if the proposed acquisition is consummated.”

She went on to say in her dissent: “Based on the majority’s characterization of the relevant product markets, I see at least three areas where the parties currently compete, or likely would compete in the near future. As a result of these competitive overlaps, I have reason to believe that the proposed acquisition may substantially lessen competition.

Those three areas include third party ad serving tools, being an ad intermediary and website specific text and display ads.
In a separate statement the FTC addressed those concerned about privacy issues with statements on proposed transparency and consumer control, reasonable security for consumer data with limited retention and affirmative express consent in privacy policy changes.

European antitrust authorities are expected to rule on the deal by April.