The US Department of Justice successfully argued that Google had been operating a monopoly in the online advertising industry, specifically in the areas of publisher ad servers and ad exchanges.
Judge Brinkema ruled that the company’s anti-competitive practices had “substantially harmed” web publishers and users, noting that Google had willfully engaged in such practices for “over a decade”.
Google was found to be in violation of the Sherman Act, however, the judge did rule in the company’s favour with regards to its ad network tool.
The company has said it will appeal the decision.
The ruling comes as the two parties prepare to meet in another court to discuss possible remedies following the DOJ’s recent victory in its case against Google’s online search monopoly.
Breaking up Google’s ad tech tools and forcing it to spin out its ad exchange could improve competition in the sector, boosting smaller publishers and lowering ad prices, says Bloomberg.