Alphabet's Google illegally dominated two markets for online advertising technology, a federal judge said on Thursday, dealing another blow to the tech titan in an antitrust case brought by the U.S.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, could allow prosecutors to argue for a breakup of Google’s advertising products. The U.S. Department of Justice has said that Google should have to sell off at least its Google Ad Manager, which includes the company’s publisher ad server and its ad exchange.
Google will now head in to 2025 facing the possibility of two different U.S. courts ordering it to sell assets or change its business practices, as a judge in Washington will hold a trial in April on the DOJ’s request to make Google sell its Chrome browser and take other measures to end its dominance in online search.
Google has previously explored selling off its ad exchange to appease European antitrust regulators, Reuters reported in September.
