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Google could be forced to significantly restructure its operations after a federal judge in Virginia ruled today that the company had illegally maintained a monopoly over lucrative technology that delivers online ads.
The Justice Department and several states had sued Google, arguing that the search giant had used its size and influence to lock out competitors and charge higher prices. Today, the judge sided with the government on two of its three accusations against Google, ruling that it held a monopoly on tools used by publishers to host ad space and on the software used to facilitate online-ad transactions.
Next, the Trump administration will assess the ruling to determine whether to push Google, a $1.88 trillion company, to break apart its ad tech business. The tech giant has currently an 87 percent market share in ad-selling technology, according to the government.
It is the second time in a year that a U.S. court has found Google to have illegally maintained a monopoly. A judge in Washington, D.C., is now considering a request by the Justice Department to break the company up because of its dominance in online search.
For more: The cases against Google are part of a growing push by regulators to rein in the power of the biggest tech companies.
