A federal judge has ruled that Google illegally maintained monopoly power over key segments of the digital advertising market, marking the second time in less than a year that courts have found the tech giant violated U.S. antitrust laws.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Virginia concluded Thursday that Google "willfully acquired and maintained monopoly power" in parts of the ad tech stack by unlawfully tying together its ad exchange and publisher ad server. The ruling caps a multi-year lawsuit brought by the Justice Department and eight states, which accused the Alphabet-owned company of manipulating the digital advertising marketplace to entrench its dominance and disadvantage rival platforms and publishers.
"For over a decade, Google has tied its publisher ad server and ad exchange together through contractual policies and technological integration," Brinkema wrote in a 115-page decision. "Google further entrenched its monopoly power by imposing anticompetitive policies on its customers and eliminating desirable product features."
The case, filed in January 2023, centers on Google's control of the digital advertising pipeline, from the tools publishers use to sell ad inventory, to the exchanges where auctions are held, to the platforms advertisers use to bid. Brinkema's decision found the company's conduct harmed competition and publishers, while rejecting the Justice Department's broader claims about Google's behavior toward advertisers.
Google will appeal. "We disagree with the Court's decision regarding our publisher tools," said Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice president of regulatory affairs. "Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ad tech tools are simple, affordable and effective."
Still, the court sided with Google on key aspects of the DOJ's case, including findings that its acquisitions of DoubleClick and AdMeld were not themselves anticompetitive. Brinkema wrote, "Although these acquisitions helped Google gain monopoly power in two adjacent ad tech markets, they are insufficient, when viewed in isolation, to prove that Google acquired or maintained this monopoly power through exclusionary practices."
The decision now advances to a remedy phase, expected to begin in late 2024 or early 2025, where the Justice Department could press for structural changes. In its original complaint, the DOJ proposed that Google divest key parts of its advertising business, such as Ad Manager, which includes the AdX exchange and DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) server.
Google's advertising dominance has been a central concern for publishers. Executives from News Corp. and Gannett testified during the trial about diminished revenues and an alleged lack of alternatives to Google's ad stack. DOJ attorneys emphasized that Google's control over both the buying and selling sides of digital advertising allowed it to extract greater fees and steer auctions to its own benefit.
The ruling follows a separate antitrust case in which another federal judge found Google illegally monopolized the search engine market. That case, led by the Justice Department and a coalition of states, is scheduled to enter its remedies phase Monday in Washington, D.C., where prosecutors are expected to argue that Google should be required to sell its Chrome browser and other assets.
Google's parent company Alphabet Inc. saw its shares fall 1% on the news. The stock is down approximately 20% year-to-date, amid mounting legal and regulatory scrutiny over its dominance in both advertising and search. Analysts expect continued pressure as litigation threatens to fracture some of Google's most profitable businesses, even as it invests heavily in artificial intelligence.
