A US judge has ruled that Google has a monopoly on online advertising technology on Thursday, April 17.
This decision followed a lawsuit from the US Department of Justice and 17 states, who argued that Google was unlawfully controlling the technology that determines which ads are shown online and where.
As per BBC, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema, found that Google illegally dominated two areas in online advertising, one in the technology used by publishers to serve ads and the ad exchanges that connect buyers and sellers.
This is the second time in a year that Google has lost an antitrust case, the first being over its monopoly on online search.
Now, Google has stated that it plans to appeal this decision.
The ruling could lead to further legal actions, including the possibility of breaking up Google's advertising operations.
As per the outlet, in the case, Google lost on two legal points, but the third point was dismissed.
The firm's head of regulatory affairs Lee-Ann Mulholland said in a statement, "We won half of this case and we will appeal the other half. The Court found that our advertiser tools and our acquisitions, such as DoubleClick, don't harm competition."
Meanwhile, Google’s lawyer defended the company by saying the case mainly emphasized what Google had done in the past, instead of considering the current market.
The lawyer also pointed out that the prosecutors didn't take into account other big companies involved in advertising technology, such as Amazon.
