Another federal judge says Google is a monopolist

Another federal judge has ruled that Google is a monopolist.

Google has been dealt another major blow by a federal judge.

Judge Leonie Brinkema of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled on Thursday that Google holds an illegal monopoly in advertising technology.

The US Department of Justice and 17 state attorneys general had brought an antitrust lawsuit against Google, arguing that the tech giant used acquisitions and anticompetitive ad auction tactics to build an illegal monopoly of the digital ad market.

The ruling — the second by a federal judge that found Google to be a monopolist — followed a weekslong landmark trial last year.

In her 115-page ruling, Brinkema wrote that the DOJ and the states have proven that Google “willfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts to acquire and maintain monopoly power in the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets for open-web display advertising.”

“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,” Brinkema wrote.

The judge said that Google further cemented its monopoly power in the adtech business by imposing anticompetitive policies on its customers and “eliminating desirable product features.”

“In addition to depriving rivals of the ability to compete,” Brinkema wrote, “this exclusionary conduct substantially harmed Google’s publisher customers, the competitive process, and, ultimately, consumers of information on the open web.”

There will be a court hearing at a later date to determine remedies for Google’s violations of US competition laws. The court could force a breakup of Google’s adtech business.

A breakup of the company would be a major boost for rival adtech firms like The Trade Desk and Magnite.

In a blog post ahead of the trial, Google’s vice president for regulatory affairs argued that the government had it all wrong.

“The DOJ’s narrow view of the ad tech market doesn’t reflect reality,” Lee-Anne Mulholland wrote. “We are one of hundreds of companies who actively compete to enable the placement of ads across the internet.”

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

In August, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that Google violated antitrust law with its online search.

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” US District Judge Amit Mehta wrote in his ruling.

A hearing in that case, which could also result in a company breakup, is set to begin Monday.