A federal judge ruled Thursday that Google illegally monopolized parts of the online advertising technology market, finding the Alphabet Inc. subsidiary violated antitrust laws in two key areas: advertising exchanges and ad servers used by websites to sell digital ad space.
The decision stems from a 2023 lawsuit filed by the Justice Department and a coalition of states, which accused Google of dominating three areas related to digital display advertising: ad servers, exchanges, and networks. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema found that the Alphabet Inc. subsidiary violated antitrust laws in two of those areas—advertising exchanges and ad servers, which are used by websites to sell digital ad space. The court did not find Google to be a monopoly in a third area involving tools advertisers use to buy display ads.
The ruling marks the second major antitrust defeat for Google, which was already found to have monopolized the online search market in a separate case. In another ongoing challenge, the Justice Department is seeking to force Alphabet to divest its Chrome browser.
The market responded quickly to the ruling: Alphabet shares fell as much as 3.2%, while shares of rival ad tech firm Trade Desk rose nearly 8%.
The case is U.S. v. Google, No. 23-cv-00108, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
