The Blubber

oogle’s stronghold in the digital advertising industry suffered a major setback on April 17, when a federal judge ruled the company had illegally dominated two essential segments of the online ad market. The decision marks a significant development in the U.S. government’s ongoing antitrust campaign targeting Big Tech.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema found that Google unlawfully monopolized the markets for publisher ad servers and ad exchanges — both key platforms for connecting online ad buyers and sellers. However, she concluded that the government had not proven Google held monopoly power in the advertiser ad network market.

The ruling, which followed a three-week trial in Alexandria, Virginia, moves Google closer to potentially being required to break up parts of its ad tech business. The Department of Justice has previously proposed that Google divest its Google Ad Manager, which encompasses its ad exchange and publisher ad server.

This case runs parallel to another DOJ-led antitrust trial scheduled to begin next week in Washington, where the government is seeking remedies that could include forcing Google to sell its Chrome browser and limiting its dominance in the online search sector.

Judge Brinkema’s ruling now opens the door for a separate proceeding to determine what remedies — possibly including divestitures — will be necessary to restore competition in the ad tech markets. A date for that hearing has not yet been set.

During the trial, prosecutors argued that Google entrenched its market power through traditional monopoly strategies: acquiring competitors, locking in partners, and tightly controlling the advertising process. In a separate matter last year, Reuters reported that Google had even considered divesting its ad exchange operations in Europe to resolve other regulatory challenges.