Google Trial Judge: Tech Giant Holds Illegal Ad Monopoly

A federal judge has ruled that Google holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology.

As The New York Times reported Thursday (April 17), Judge Leonie Brinkema found Google had violated the law to establish its dominance in the online advertising system.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and a group of states had sued the company, claiming that its monopoly in advertising technology (AdTech) helped Google charge higher prices and take a larger portion of each sale.

“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,” said Judge Brinkema, who also dismissed one portion of the government’s case.

The NYT report notes that the ruling adds to other legal troubles facing the $1.88 trillion company, issues that could reshape Google and alter the power it holds over the internet.

“We won half of this case and we will appeal the other half. The Court found that our advertiser tools and our acquisitions, such as DoubleClick, don’t harm competition,” Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president for regulatory affairs, said in a statement provided to PYMNTS.

“We disagree with the Court’s decision regarding our publisher tools. Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ad tech tools are simple, affordable and effective.”

The company at trial had offered up expert testimony from economist Mark Israel, who argued regulates had focused too much on a small part of the online advertising sector — specifically, “open web display advertising,” which includes the rectangular ads that normally show up on websites when people browse on desktop computers.

Israel testified that this definition ignores the wider scope of competition faced by Google in the changing digital landscape, stressing that advertisers have increasingly shifted their spending to social media platforms such as Facebook and TikTok, or major online retailers like Amazon.

The ruling follows a decision from another judge last year that Google holds an online search monopoly. Now, that judge is considering a request by the DOJ to break up the company. The government has also sought to have Google sell some of its AdTech business.

Meanwhile, Google is also facing a $6.6 billion lawsuit in the United Kingdom. Filed this week, the suit claims the company exploited its dominant position in the online search market to drive up advertising costs for businesses.

Google has called the case meritless, with a spokesperson telling Reuters it was “yet another speculative and opportunistic case.”