Google monopolised online ads, a court determined.
Google is an illegal monopolist in online advertising, a federal court has determined, in a ruling that could lead to a breakup of its ad business.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google unlawfully monopolized advertising markets, reports Reuters. The ruling determined that Google had control over a number of advertising markets, to the level of a monopoly, which it used to its advantage.
In the ruling, Judge Brinkema determined that Google’s monopoly affected the market for publisher ad servers and for ad exchanges. This was enough to influence and exert control over the overall online advertising market in general.
However, an attempt to show that Google monopolized advertiser ad networks failed.
The ruling gives fuel to the possibility that Google will have to break apart its lucrative advertising business in some way. Following the ruling, the court will be seeking remedies from Google on how it can rectify the situation.
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