Judge Rules in the United States Google Illegally Controls the Market for Digital Advertising

The internet giant’s antitrust lawsuit suffered yet another significant setback on Thursday when a U.S. federal judge found that Google had monopolized the open-web digital advertising marketplaces in violation of antitrust law.

It “harmed Google’s publishing customers, the competitive process, and, ultimately, consumers of information on the open web,” the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia said.

“In the continuous battle to prevent Google from controlling the digital public square, this is a historic win,” said U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi in a statement.

The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater stated that Google’s illegal dominance enables them to “censor and even deplatform American voices,” adding that “at the same time, Google destroyed and hid information that exposed its illegal conduct.”

“Today’s ruling validates Google’s dominance over online advertising and, more and more, the internet itself,” the assistant attorney general stated.

Google has declared that it will challenge the decision. According to Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s VP of regulatory relations, publishers have a lot of options, but they pick Google because of its easy-to-use, reasonably priced, and efficient advertising technology solutions.

For the second time, a federal judge in the United States has declared that Google had engaged in unlawful monopolistic activities. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C., declared in August 2024 that Google had unlawfully monopolized the online search industry.