A federal judge, Leonie Brinkema, ruled that Google maintains an illegal monopoly in the advertising technology sector after revealing that the company has used restrictive contracts and technical integrations to solidify its market power. Brinkema noted that these actions hinder competition by denying rivals a fair chance to vie for advertisement placements. The ruling implies potential remedies could lead to a breakup of Google's adtech business. This judgment is a significant blow to Google amidst ongoing scrutiny over its market practices.
For over a decade, Google has tied its publisher ad server and ad exchange together through contractual policies and technological integration, which enabled the company to establish and protect its monopoly power in these two markets.
In addition to depriving rivals of the ability to compete, this exclusionary conduct substantially harmed Google's publisher customers, the competitive process, and, ultimately, consumers of information on the open web.
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