‘Google a monopolist’ and acted illegally to dominate advertising technology; US judge rules

In a major blow to Google, a US federal judge ruled on Thursday that the tech giant illegally maintained a monopoly in online advertising technology, deepening the company’s legal troubles and potentially paving the way for a significant restructuring.

Judge Leonie Brinkema of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia said Google broke the law to cement its dominance in the complex ecosystem that powers digital ad placements across the internet. The decision comes in response to a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department and a coalition of US states, who argued that Google’s control over ad tech allowed it to inflate prices and take a larger cut from each transaction.