Alphabet’s Google illegally dominated two markets for online advertising technology, a judge ruled on Thursday, dealing another blow to the tech giant and paving the way for US antitrust prosecutors to seek a break-up of its advertising products.
US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, ruled that Google unlawfully monopolised markets for publisher ad servers and the market for ad exchanges which sit between buyers and sellers. Antitrust enforcers failed to show the company had a monopoly in advertiser ad networks, she wrote.
Antitrust enforcers failed to prove a separate claim that the company had a monopoly in advertiser ad networks, she wrote.
Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice-president of Regulatory Affairs, said Google will appeal the ruling.
“We won half of this case and we will appeal the other half,” she said, adding that the company disagrees with the decision on its publisher tools. “Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ad tech tools are simple, affordable and effective.”
Google’s shares were down around 2.1 per cent at midday on Thursday.
