A federal judge from the United States decided on Thursday that Google violated antitrust laws by illegally maintaining its monopoly on the digital advertising technology market. The decision represents a significant defeat to the company and threatens to lead to the fragmentation of part of its business.
The sentence was issued by Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Virginia District Court. She concluded that Google acted illegally by integrating its advertisements for editors with the digital auction platform, which restricted competition in the industry. According to the judge, this practice damaged rivals, editors and consumers.
“The exclusionary conduct substantially damaged Google editors, the competitive process and ultimately consumers of open web information,” Brinkema said in the decision.
The action against Google was filed in 2023 by the US Department of Justice and a group of states, and points out that the company holds about 87% of the technology market for sale of ads.
This dominance was expanded by acquisitions, such as DoubleClick’s in 2008, for $ 3.1 billion. By 2023, Alphabet’s advertising technology area, Google controller, generated $ 31 billion in revenue – about 10% of the company’s total revenues.
During the trial, which lasted three weeks, prosecutors argued that Google forced combined use of its products and captured a greater share of transactions, negatively impacting media companies that depend on advertising to finance free content.
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The Court will now begin the phase of definition of corrective measures. The Justice Department had already asked Google to be required to sell parts of its digital ad operation.
This is the second court ruling in less than a year against Google for anticoncurrential practices. In August, another court concluded that the company maintains a monopoly in the online search industry.
Google and Justice Department have not yet publicly commented on the decision.
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(com New York Times e Washington Post)
