2 days ago 4

Google found to hold illegal monopoly over online ad business

Updated Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 9:03 AM 2 min read

In her ruling on Thursday, US District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema said that the plaintiffs proved Google held monopoly power in the publisher ad servers and ad exchanges for open-web display advertising. But Brinkema found that the DOJ and states failed to show a relevant market for advertising networks.

"Google’s monopolies in the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets...have enabled Google to introduce a series of anticompetitive policies, practices, and technology changes to its sell-side ad tech tools that were not in its publisher customers’ best interests," Brinkema wrote in her ruling.

"These changes decreased product quality and harmed competition by further entrenching Google as the dominant company in open-web display advertising. Google made these changes, despite customer complaints, by exploiting its durable monopoly power in the open-web display ad exchange and publisher ad server markets."

Advertising is Google's most important business segment, bringing in $72.4 billion of the company's $96.4 billion in total revenue in its most recent quarter. The company now faces the prospect of having to sell off parts of its advertising technology business, though it will have a chance to appeal Thursday's ruling.

Google previously lost an antitrust battle with the DOJ over its search business. That ruling could force Google to sell off parts of its search business including its Chrome browser.