By Editor-in-Chief, Timothy Gocklin, MBA, MSF,
In a major court defeat for Google’s ad empire, a federal judge ruled Thursday that the tech giant illegally monopolized significant aspects of the online ad tech marketplace.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., broke antitrust rules in two major markets: ad exchanges and publisher ad servers—programs websites employ to sell online advertising space. She determined the company does not have monopoly power in a third market: advertiser tools to purchase display ads.
Following the verdict, Alphabet stock declined up to 3.2% before trading slightly higher. At 11:25 a.m. in New York, the stock was down 1.4% at $151.18.
“Google has intentionally followed a series of anticompetitive behavior to acquire and maintain monopoly power in the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets for open-web display advertising,” Brinkema wrote in her 115-page opinion.
She described how Google spent more than a decade stringing together its ad server and ad exchange products by contracts and integration—actions that entrenched and strengthened its dominance.
Entrenching Monopoly Power
The judge further determined that Google entrenched its market dominance by enacting anticompetitive practices, eliminating beneficial features like Instant Answer, and suppressing competing competition. Such behavior, she said, harmed not only Google’s publisher clients but the broader competitive environment and consumer users who rely on open-web content.
Brinkema stated that there will be individual court proceedings scheduled to determine remedies.
Second Major Antitrust Setback
This ruling is Google’s second major antitrust defeat in a number of months.
In a separate suit, the firm was found to have monopolized the market for internet searches. In the other case, the U.S. Department of Justice requested to force the sale of Google’s Chrome browser. A remedy trial in the other case is to begin Monday in Washington.
The DOJ and a coalition of U.S. states sued Google in 2023, claiming that it had monopolized three interconnected ad tech markets: ad servers, ad exchanges, and ad networks.
Google’s representatives and the DOJ did not comment on the decision immediately.
A “Tremendous Win” for Antitrust Enforcement
Jonathan Kanter, the Justice Department’s antitrust chief under President Joe Biden, called the decision a landmark victory.
“This is a tremendous win for antitrust enforcement, the media industry, and the free and open internet,” Kanter said. “Google is twice an illegal monopolist.”
The DoubleClick Purchase at the Forefront
At the center of the DOJ suit was Google’s purchase of DoubleClick in 2008, which gave the company massive control in arranging ads on publishers’ websites. Judge Brinkema agreed the merger played a pivotal role.
“Google’s backing of its publisher-facing business through the DoubleClick acquisition allowed it to secure a dominant position on both sides of the ad tech stack,” she wrote.
She explained how Google’s business model was powered by strong network effects: as more advertisers used its platform, more publishers joined—and vice versa. This created a solid self-sustaining cycle of dominance.
Potential Sanctions for Evidence Handling
The court further heard allegations of Google deliberately destroying evidence and misusing attorney-client privilege to cover up information.
While Brinkema accepted that such behavior is sanctionable, she stated that since the government had prevailed on the evidence obtained, additional sanctions were not required.
Case Reference: U.S. v. Google, 23-cv-00108, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria)
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