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Google illegally acted to preserve “monopoly power” in the ad-tech business, a federal judge ruled Thursday. It’s the second antitrust case brought by the U.S. government that has gone against the internet giant in the past year.
“For over a decade, Google has tied its publisher ad server and ad exchange together through contractual policies and technological integration, which enabled the company to establish and protect its monopoly power in these two markets,” Judge Leonie Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia wrote in the decision (available at this link). “In addition to depriving rivals of the ability to compete, this exclusionary conduct substantially harmed Google’s publisher customers, the competitive process, and, ultimately, consumers of information on the open web.”
The case was brought in January 2023 by the U.S. Justice Department, joined by multiple states, alleging Google engaged in anticompetitive conduct to preserve a “monopolistic grip” on digital advertising.
In her 115-page ruling, which followed a three-week bench trial, Judge Brinkema found that the U.S. government failed to prove there is a relevant market for “open-web display advertiser ad networks” and she dismissed that portion of the complaint alleging Google operates a monopoly there. However, the judge said, the plaintiffs did prove that Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act by “willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power in the open-web display publisher ad server market and the open-web display ad exchange market” and also “unlawfully tied its publisher ad server (DFP) and ad exchange (AdX) in violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act.”
The judge will next set a briefing schedule and hearing date to determine “the appropriate remedies for these antitrust violations.” The government’s lawsuit, in addition to seeking monetary damages, sought an order requiring Google to divest its publisher ad server and ad exchange products.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling. In a previous statement, Google had said the lawsuit “attempts to pick winners and losers in the highly competitive advertising technology sector” and that the DOJ “is doubling down on a flawed argument that would slow innovation, raise advertising fees, and make it harder for thousands of small businesses and publishers to grow.”
The ruling comes after a federal judge in August 2024 found that Google held a monopoly in internet search and that the internet giant broke the law by inking multibillion-dollar deals to make its search engine the default on web browsers and smartphones including devices from Apple and Samsung. The judge in case, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is scheduled to rule on remedies in the case this spring.
