Google insists it half-won its case, despite being ruled to be an unlawful monopoly
Following a federal judge ruling that Google is effectively an unlawful monopoly, the search company say that it will partially appeal.
On April 17, 2025, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google’s control over advertising markets amounted to an unlawful monopoly. Google has now been reframing the ruling as a partial victory, while saying it will also file an appeal.
“We won half of this case and we will appeal the other half. The Court found that our advertiser tools and our acquisitions, such as DoubleClick, don’t harm competition. We disagree with the Court’s decision regarding our publisher tools. Publishers have many options and they
— News from Google (@NewsFromGoogle) April 17, 2025
The company’s tweet, on behalf of Lee-Anne Mulholland, its vice president of regulatory affairs, continues: “[they] choose Google because our ad tech tools are simple, affordable and effective.”
That tweeted statement was sent out shortly after the ruling, and Mulholland has now issued further comments. According to Reuters, she has said that the judge issued a mixed decision.
Specifically, Mulholland stressed that Judge Brinkema ruled that the Department of Justice had failed to demonstrate certain claims. Those included how the DOJ said Google’s acquisitions of DoubleClick and AdMeld were anticompetitive.
Mulholland says that Google plans to appeal against the rest of the ruling, which she described as “adverse”.
Those elements include both the ruling that Google is an unlawful monopoly, and that in particular it uses its influence to raise prices, and reduce competition. Judge Brinkema said Google’s depriving competitors of “the ability to compete” had substantially harmed users and businesses.
It’s not clear yet how long an appeals process may take, but in the meantime, the ruling sees the court asking for potential remedies. The DOJ is expected to insist that the only remedy is breaking up Google and its sales arm.
While selling off its sales division now seems the most likely outcome, it was previously mooted that Google could end its various deals that helped ensure its dominance. In particular, that would have seen Google cease paying Apple $20 billion a year to be the default search engine on iPhones.
