Google Is Operating an Ad Tech Monopoly, Judge Rules

Google is starting to have a monopoly on getting called out for having a monopoly. For the second time in under one year, the tech giant has been deemed to be operating an illegal monopoly, this time for its online advertising technology. Judge Leonie Brinkema of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued a 115-page ruling on Thursday that found Google violated antitrust laws to establish a firm hold over the online advertising space, allowing the company to charge higher prices and keep a larger portion of ad sales. In his ruling, Judge Brinkema said that Google was “willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power” over parts of the web advertising business by connecting its ad server business, DoubleClick, used by publishers to sell ads on their platforms, to its ad exchange operations, Google AdX, which sells ad space off auction-style to the highest bidder. That combination, the judge found, created a “durable and ‘predominant share of the market’ that i ... Read full article.