A new court ruling could change the dominant role Google has held in the digital advertising market since the release of AdWords in late 2000. On April 17, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google illegally monopolized two markets: one for publisher ad servers and one for online ad exchanges. Antitrust investigators were unable to prove a monopoly in the advertiser ad networks market.
Brinkema said Google is guilty of “willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power,” adding that “this exclusionary conduct substantially harmed Google’s publisher customers, the competitive process, and, ultimately, consumers of information on the open web.”
Previous legal troubles
This isn’t the first time Google has been investigated for antitrust violations. In 2020, 10 US states — including Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, and Utah — sued the company, accusing it of partnering with Facebook to illegally manipulate online advertising auctions.
In August 2024, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google held an illegal monopoly in the online search market. Specifically, this case found that Google invested billions to make its site the default web browser and smartphone search engine.
“Even if a new entrant were positioned from a quality standpoint to bid for the default when an agreement expires,” Mehta wrote, “such a firm could compete only if it were prepared to pay partners upwards of billions of dollars in revenue share.” A month later, the UK-based Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found the company was actively using anti-competitive practices to suppress other online ad companies.
In the latest ruling, a trial is set to begin next week to determine whether Google will be forced to sell off the Chrome browser or face any other consequences for its dominance of the online search market.
Potential repercussions
The potential repercussions of the recent ruling are still uncertain. While the U.S. Department of Justice suggests that Google should be forced to sell its Ad Manager platform, an earlier lawsuit targeting the Chrome web browser for a possible sale is still awaiting resolution. If the courts have their way, we could be seeing a very different Google in the near future.