Google's advertising business declared illegal monopoly

California: A US judge has ruled that Google's advertising business is based on an illegal monopoly.

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema said in her ruling that Google has deliberately maintained its monopoly in the advertising market in violation of the 1890 Antitrust Act.

This decision is the second major setback for Google in a year.

Earlier in August 2024, another US judge ruled that Google has established a monopoly in online search.

Google has decided to appeal the new decision.

According to a statement issued by Google, we have won half the case and will appeal the other half.

The statement said that we do not agree with the court's decision regarding our publisher tools. Publishers have several options, and they choose Google because our advertising tools are very simple, cheap, and effective.

This case against Google's advertising business was filed by the US federal government and a coalition of 17 states.

Now, in the next phase, the court will recommend appropriate measures to end the monopoly of the company's advertising business, for which further hearings will be held.

It is not clear when the court hearing will begin now because the next phase of the hearing may be postponed for months or years due to Google's appeal.

Google's online search and advertising business is not the only one facing court decisions.

In 2023, a US judge ruled that Google had established an illegal monopoly in the Play Store for Android devices, and the company also filed an appeal against this decision.

Google earned more than $72 billion from online advertising in the fourth quarter of 2024, and it has a 90 percent market share in online search.

Its dominance in online search helps Google sell ads using user data.