A federal judge ruled Thursday that Google violated antitrust law by monopolizing two key markets in digital advertising—publisher ad servers and ad exchanges.
Judge Leonie Brinkema found Google abused its ad dominance and “substantially harmed” competitors and online publishers who depend on ad dollars.
While the court upheld Google’s past acquisitions of DoubleClick and Admeld, it concluded the company’s ongoing behavior entrenched its power unfairly.
The case now heads to a penalty phase, with the Justice Department expected to push for a breakup of parts of Google’s ad business.
