Judge rules Google built an illegal monopoly in web ads

A federal judge ruled that Google built an illegal ad tech monopoly in its $31 billion web advertising business, siding with the Justice Department. 

Judge Leonie Brinkema sided with the Justice Department’s argument that Google tied its ad server (that publishers use to run ads) and ad exchange (where advertisers and publishers buy and sell ads) to suppress competition via exclusive deals that left publishers no choice but to use the Google ecosystem.

The ruling follows two other major court losses for the Alphabet-owned firm in the past year, including a ruling last year that found Google illegally abused a monopoly over the search industry and said it would have to break up its business and sell Chrome.

Google said it would appeal the decision.