A court found Thursday that Google improperly controls two marketplaces for online advertising technologies, further harming the internet giant and opening the door for U.S. antitrust authorities to pursue a dissolution of its advertising business.
Google was held accountable by US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, for "wilfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power" in the marketplaces for ad exchanges, which act as a middleman between buyers and sellers, and publisher ad servers.
In order to decide what Google has to do to restore competition in certain areas, such as selling off portions of its company at a future trial that has not yet been set, the ruling opens a new tab.
Following a similar finding in a case involving internet search, this is the second court decision that Google has an unlawful monopoly.
Websites utilise publisher ad servers as platforms to host and manage their inventory of digital ads.
The technology enables news publishers and other online content providers to profit from the sale of advertisements in addition to ad exchanges. According to Brinkema, the money represent the "lifeblood" of the internet.
"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," concluded Brinkema.
She stated, however, that a different allegation that the business had a monopoly in advertising ad networks was not proven by antitrust authorities.
The decision was hailed by U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi as "a landmark victory in the ongoing fight to stop Google from monopolising the digital public square."
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"This Department of Justice will continue taking bold legal action to protect the American people from encroachments on free speech and free markets by tech companies," she said.
Google will appeal the decision, according to Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice president of regulatory affairs.
She said, "We won half of this case and we will appeal the other half," adding that the business rejects the ruling about its publishing tools.
"Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ad tech tools are simple, affordable and effective."
Google's stock fell 1.4% after the decision on Thursday. According to experts who previously spoke to Reuters, the software behemoth best known for its search engine would suffer little financial harm from a defeat in the lawsuit.
According to the DOJ, Google ought to be forced to sell up at least its Google Ad Manager, which consists of the business's ad exchange and publisher ad server.
According to a September Reuters article, Google has previously considered selling its ad exchange in order to satisfy European antitrust authorities.
A Democrat from Minnesota and former head of the antitrust subcommittee, US Senator Amy Klobuchar, described the decision as "a big win for consumers, small businesses, and content creators that will open digital markets to more innovation and lower prices."
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