Google has been branded an abusive monopolist by a United States federal judge for the second time in less than a year.
The ruling issued by US District Judge Leonie Brinkema found the company illegally exploited some of its online marketing technology to boost its profits.
Justice Department lawyers argued that Google built and maintained dominant market positions to sell ad space on their webpages, the technology that advertisers use to get their ads in front of consumers, and the ad exchanges that match buyer and seller.
“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.
“Google further entrenched its monopoly power by imposing anticompetitive policies on its customers and eliminating desirable product features”.
Brinkema’s decision centres on the marketing machine that Google has spent the past 17 years building around its search engine and other widely used products and services, including its Chrome browser, YouTube video site, and digital maps.
The system was largely built around a series of acquisitions that started with Google’s $3.2 billion purchase of online ad specialist DoubleClick in 2008 that was approved at the time by US regulators.
They then realised they gave the company a platform to manipulate prices in an ecosystem that a wide range of websites depend on for revenue.
The ruling comes on the heels of a separate decision in August that concluded Google’s namesake search engine has been illegally leveraging its dominance to stifle competition and innovation.
Google to appeal ruling
In a statement, Google said it will appeal the ruling.
“We disagree with the Court’s decision regarding our publisher tools,” said Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs to the Associated Press.
“Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ad tech tools are simple, affordable and effective”.
The US Justice Department targeted Google’s search engine during President Donald Trump’s first administration and came after the company’s lucrative digital advertising network in 2023 under President Joe Biden.
Google and its corporate parent Alphabet vehemently denied the Justice Department’s allegations.
Their lawyers argued the government largely based its case on an antiquated concept of a market that existed a decade ago while underestimating a highly competitive market for advertising spending that includes the likes of Facebook parent Meta Platforms, Amazon, Microsoft, and Comcast.
The next step in the latest case is a penalty phase that will likely begin late this year or early next year.
The same so-called “remedy” hearings in the search monopoly case are scheduled to begin Monday in Washington DC.
Justice Department lawyers will try to convince U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta to impose a sweeping punishment that includes a proposed requirement for Google to sell its Chrome web browser.
The battle is likely to continue for several more years as Google tries to overturn two monopoly decisions in appeals.
