A Federal Judge has ruled that Google unlawfully monopolized markets for publisher ad servers and the market for ad exchanges
It’s being report this morning that a federal judge said early this morning that Alphabet's Google illegally dominated two markets for online advertising technology, dealing another blow to the tech titan in an antitrust case brought by the U.S.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, ruled that Google unlawfully monopolized markets for publisher ad servers and the market for ad exchanges which sit between buyers and sellers. Antitrust enforcers failed to show the company had a monopoly in advertiser ad networks, she wrote.
The ruling could allow prosecutors to argue for a breakup of Google's advertising products. The U.S. Department of Justice has said that Google should have to sell off at least its Google Ad Manager, which includes the company's publisher ad server and its ad exchange.
Google will now face the possibility of two different U.S. courts ordering it to sell assets or change its business practices. A judge in Washington will hold a trial next week on the DOJ's request to make Google sell its Chrome browser and take other measures to end its dominance in online search.
Google used classic monopoly-building tactics of eliminating competitors through acquisitions, locking customers in to using its products, and controlling how transactions occurred in the online ad market, prosecutors said at trial. For more, read the full Reuters report.