Judge Google Adtech illegally rules, and opens the door for potential separation

Federal judge has Find Google violated the anti -monopoly laws by “obtaining the power of monopoly and maintaining it intentionally” in the advertising technology market, as it raised a two -year story after the United States and eight states presented it Initial complaints Against the owned alphabet.

The court will appoint a summary schedule and the date of a hearing to determine the appropriate treatments for anti -monopoly violations, for each file on Thursday.

Google forced treatments can include the dismantling of its advertising business, such as the sale of Google Ad Manager, which includes ADX Ad Exchang and DFP (Doubleclick for publishers), the advertising server used for publishers.

Or the courts can force the behavioral treatments that will allow Google to maintain its work intact, but will impose restrictions on ensuring fair competition, such as preventing Google from giving priority to exchange or demand in auctions.

In a separate case to combat monopoly, another federal judge found this last year Google illegally monopolized the public search market on the Internet. The judge has not yet released treatments in this case, but he is expected to do this in mid -2015.

In the ADTECH case, Judge Leoni wrote. In her opinion, Bruntka has failed to prove that “Web Open Web” is a relevant market as Google has the power of monopoly. These advertisers help buy open -web display ads, so they are outside closed ecosystems such as Facebook, Instagram and Google Search.

The judge agreed that Google violated Sherman’s Law by monopolizing and linking two parts of ADTECH crew together, specifically DFP and ADX, and that Google is guilty of misuse of the ADTECH monopoly power by the publisher.

“We have won half of this issue and we will resume the other half,” Lee Malhuland, Google’s Vice President of Google, said in a statement sent via e -mail. “The court found that our advertisers and our acquisitions, such as Doubleclick, do not harm the competition. We disagree with the court’s decision regarding our publisher tools. Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ads technology tools are simple and affordable.”

The Ministry of Justice – along with California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rod Island, Tennessee, and Virginia – claimed a lawsuit against the alleged Google use of the monopoly authority over the digital advertising market In January 2023.

The Ministry of Justice argued that Google achieved its monopoly through its anti -competition behavior when it bought Doubleclick in 2008, which then became the backbone of its advertising work. Google Admeld then bought in 2011 to get more control over the offer side in the advertising market. The government says this allowed Google to raise advertising prices and harm publishers by taking more discounts in every sale.

The trial of this case began in September 2024 and lasted for three weeks, with final arguments in late November.

This article has been updated to include more background on the case.