Publicis Groupe has stopped recommending The Trade Desk to its clients following a third-party audit that raised concerns about the platform’s fee practices and transparency.

The decision came after an independent review found that The Trade Desk may have charged fees beyond agreed limits and enrolled clients into additional services without clear authorisation. The audit also questioned whether the company could fully verify that media and data costs were passed through without markups, as stipulated in its agreement with Publicis.

Publicis confirmed that the platform did not pass the audit and, as a result, advised clients to look elsewhere for programmatic ad buying. The move is significant given the scale of the agency group and its influence over global media spend.

The Trade Desk has strongly pushed back against the findings, disputing claims that it failed any audit. The company argued that some of the requested data could not be shared due to confidentiality agreements with partners, and said it had proposed alternative ways to address Publicis’ concerns.

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Beyond the immediate fallout, the dispute highlights deeper tensions within the digital advertising ecosystem. Industry observers say the clash is as much about control and margins as it is about transparency, with agencies and platforms increasingly competing over who captures value in programmatic media buying.

The impact has already been felt in the market, with The Trade Desk’s stock declining after the news broke, reflecting investor concerns about the potential loss of a major agency partner.

At its core, the episode underscores a broader shift in advertising: brands are demanding clearer visibility into how their media budgets are spent, and long-standing relationships between agencies and ad tech platforms are being tested as transparency becomes a non-negotiable standard.