Monopoly on advertising: a US judge accuses Google

The accusation is the most recurrent one when Big Tech companies are involved: monopoly. And this time it is Google's turn. A US federal judge has ruled that the Mountain View giant has illegally maintained a monopoly position in certain key segments of online advertising.

The judgement, issued in these hours by District Judge Leonie Brinkema, found that Alphabet Inc. (parent company of the more famous Google) had violated antitrust laws in the markets for advertising exchange platforms and tools used by websites to sell advertising space, known as ad servers. However, according to the judge, Google does not hold a monopoly position in the third market examined, that of software used by advertisers to buy display ads.

The reaction of the markets was immediate: Alphabet's shares plummeted as much as 3.2 per cent, while the stocks of the adtech company Trade Desk jumped 8 per cent.

"Google deliberately engaged in a series of anticompetitive conduct to acquire and maintain monopoly power in the markets for publisher ad servers and ad exchanges for open web display advertising," reads the 115-page judgment. "For more than a decade, Google tied the use of its publisher ad server to that of its ad exchange through contractual clauses and technological integrations, thereby consolidating its dominance in both markets."

This decision represents a kind of deja vu for Google, already condemned in another case for abuse of a dominant position in the online search market. The Mountain View giant, after all, has made search and online advertising its core business, becoming over the years one of the stars of Wall Street, as well as a giant in the technological world.