US judge rules that Google has illegal advertising monopoly

A US judge has ruled that Google holds an illegal monopoly in the online advertising technology sector.

This decision follows a lawsuit filed by the US Department of Justice and 17 states, arguing Google unlawfully dominated the technology used to place advertisements online.

In the ruling, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema said Google had “wilfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts” which enabled it to “acquire and maintain monopoly power” in the market.

“This exclusionary conduct substantially harmed Google’s publisher customers, the competitive process, and, ultimately, consumers of information on the open web,” she said.

But while Google lost on two counts, a third was dismissed.”Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ad tech tools are simple, affordable and effective,” the firm’s head of regulatory affairs Lee-Ann Mulholland said. “We won half of this case and we will appeal the other half,” Ms Mulholland said.

“The court found that our advertiser tools and our acquisitions, such as DoubleClick, don’t harm competition.”

Experts consider the ruling a significant win for US antitrust regulators tackling Big Tech, setting an important legal precedent. While internet users are unlikely to notice immediate changes, the decision affects how advertising revenue is divided among advertisers, publishers and service providers.

The case will now proceed to a “remedies” phase, which could potentially lead to structural changes within Google, possibly including the divestiture of parts of its parent company, Alphabet.