A federal court in Virginia has ruled that Google’s advertising technology platform violates antitrust laws, requiring the company to consider selling part of its profitable business, reports the Baltimore Chronicle with reference to FBC.net.ua.
On Thursday, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema stated that Google had abused its dominant position in the ad tech market, particularly in the fields of publisher ad servers and open display ad exchanges. The judge noted that the company had “knowingly engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts to obtain and maintain monopoly power” in these sectors.
This decision marks another blow to Google following previous antitrust setbacks involving its search and app store businesses. In response to the ruling, Google’s Vice President of Global Ads Legal Lee-Anne Mulholland said the company would appeal this part of the decision, emphasizing that “publishers have many options and choose Google because our tools are simple, affordable, and effective.”
Judge Brinkema also ruled that Google does not hold a monopoly in the ad tech market serving advertisers. However, the company must now work with the government to develop potential remedies or solutions to end its monopolistic behavior.
This case, along with other antitrust challenges, could significantly reshape the online landscape, affecting Google’s parent company Alphabet as it seeks to expand into new areas such as artificial intelligence and competition with companies like OpenAI and TikTok.
Previously we wrote that Google agreed to allocate $100 million to compensate advertisers affected by inflated ad prices.