A US District Court Judge has ruled that Google has monopolized two online advertising markets, violating the Sherman Act. In her ruling, Judge Leonie Brinkema found Google guilty of acquiring and maintaining monopoly power in the open web display publisher ad server market and the open-web display ad exchange market.
Google was accused of tying its publisher ad server (DFP) with its ad exchange (AdX), creating a monopoly in these markets. However, Judge Brinkema did not find this argument convincing, instead focusing on Google’s actions to establish and maintain its dominance.
The judge determined that Google’s behavior, including imposing anticompetitive policies on customers and eliminating desirable features, substantially harmed publishers, the competitive process, and ultimately consumers of information on the open web. The court has set a briefing scheduling and hearing date to determine the appropriate remedies for these antitrust violations.
While Google was found guilty of monopolizing two online ad markets, it will challenge the ruling, with its VP of regulatory affairs stating that they won “half of this case” and plan to appeal the other half. The remedy phase for the search case is set to begin on Monday in Washington, DC, where a punishment will be decided over the next few weeks.
The Department of Justice had requested structural and behavioral remedies, including forced divestiture of Google’s ad tech assets and a ban on self-preferencing its own ad products. However, Judge Brinkema did not sanction Google for spoliation, or destroying evidence, despite finding the company’s systemic disregard of evidentiary rules to be problematic.
Source: https://www.adexchanger.com/platforms/google-is-found-guilty-of-operating-an-ad-tech-monopoly