Alphabet Google Illegally dominates two markets for online advertising technology, a judge judged Thursday, bringing another blow to the technology giant and paving the way for us antitrust Prosecutors to request a break in its advertising products.
The American district judge Léonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, found Google responsible for “the acquisition and the voluntary maintenance of a monopoly power” in the markets for the advertising servers of publishers and the market for exchanging announcements which are between buyers and sellers.
The decision opens the way to another hearing to determine what Google must do to restore competition in these markets, such as selling parts of its company during another trial which has not yet been planned. It is the second court decision that Google has an illegal monopoly, following a similar judgment in a case on the online search.
Publisher’s advertising servers are platforms used by websites to store and manage their inventory of digital announcements. In addition to the exchange of ads, technology allows news publishers and other online content providers earns money by selling ads. These funds are the “blood-life” of the Internet, wrote Brinkema.
“In addition to depriving competitors of the ability to compete, this exclusion leads customers of Google publishers, Google’s competitive process, and ultimately, consumers of information on the open web,” wrote Brinkema.
However, antitrust executors have not proven a separate affirmation that the company had a monopoly in advertising networks of advertisers, she wrote.
Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice-president of regulatory affairs, said that Google will appeal the decision.
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“We have won half this case and we will call on the other half,” she said, adding that the company does not agree with the decision on its publisher tools. “Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our advertising technology tools are simple, affordable and effective.”
Google’s actions fell by around 1.6% at noon. Experts previously told Reuters that the financial blow of a loss in the case would be minimal for the technology giant better known for its search engine.
The DoJ said Google should have to sell at least Son Google Ad Manager, which includes the advertising server and the exchange of the company’s publisher.
Google previously explored the sale of its exchange of ads to appease European antitrust regulators, Reuters reported in September.
The Canada Competition Office also continued Google On presumed anti -competitive behavior in online advertising services last year.
Michael Ashley Schulman, director of investments at Running Point Capital, described the decision as a “major inflection” for Google and the technological sector, stressing the will of the American courts to entertain “aggressive structural remedies” in antitrust cases.
“This could increase regulatory risk premiums between the main technological actions, in particular those like Amazon and Meta which operate similar integrated ecosystems,” he said.
Meta Platforms is tried in a distinct antitrust case brought by the Federal Trade American Commission accusing the owner of Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram of having organized an illegal monopoly in personal social networks. The FTC accused Amazon.com of illegally dominating retail markets online. The DoJ also continued Apple, saying that it has a smartphone monopoly.
These cases were continued during the republican and democratic administrations, in particular the first and second term of American president Donald Trump, showing the sustainable bipartite appeal of the antitrust application.
Google is now faced with the possibility that two American courts order it to sell assets or modify its commercial practices. A Washington judge will be a trial next week at the Doj’s request to sell Google to sell his Chrome browser and take other measures to end his domination in online search.
During a three -week trial last year on Google’s advertising activity, the DOJ and a coalition of states argued that Google used conventional monopoly construction tactics. These tactics involved eliminating competitors through acquisitions, locking customers in the use of their products and controlling how transactions took place on the online advertising market, prosecutors said at trial.
Google argued that the case was focused on the past, when the company still worked on the creation of its tools able to connect to the products of the competitors. Prosecutors also ignored competition from technological companies, notably Amazon and Comcast, while digital advertising expenses have moved to streaming applications and videos, Google’s lawyer said.
– with an additional Global News file