On April 17, a federal judge ruled that Google must divest its ad campaign business — the tech giant’s second trial loss in less than a year.
Judge Leonie Brinkema, of the Eastern District of Virginia, stated that Google “willfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts” to gain “monopoly power in the open-web display publisher ad server market.”
The Department of Justice, which filed the lawsuit, pointed out that Google’s Ad Exchange — widely used by publishers — has become and remains the dominant platform. The company has maintained this dominance by acquiring its competitors and creating a closed ecosystem.
Although the ruling labels Google an illegal monopolist, the judge concluded that Google’s acquisitions of DoubleClick and Admeld were competitive at the time, noting that “Magnite (then known as Rubicon), Microsoft, OpenX, and Yahoo were vigorous participants in open-web display advertising markets.”
The basis for the case was that Google was actively “forcing publisher customers to use a product they would not necessarily have” by tying DFP to AdX.
Google has long been scrutinised and accused of violating antitrust laws. In August 2024, it was found to have been acting illegally by holding onto its search monopoly through multi-billion-dollar deals with Apple and Samsung to keep Google Search as the default engine on their devices. The result of that case is still unclear, with a possibility that Google may even be forced to sell its Chrome browser as part of broader antitrust efforts.
In March 2024, the DOJ also targeted Apple, alleging it restricted third-party apps on its devices by denying them access to key systems, such as those needed for cross-platform messaging apps and digital wallets.
Rebecca Haw Allensworth, a Vanderbilt Law School professor, said that the DOJ “told a very coherent story about how Apple is making its product, the iPhone and the products on it — the apps — less useful for consumers in the name of maintaining their dominance.”
A couple of weeks ago, Apple was fined $162 million by a French court in a similar case. The court ruled that Apple abused its privacy tool to dominate the mobile app advertising space.
Despite the Trump administration’s general support for Big Tech, Meta is also undergoing a new round of hearings.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, Meta’s over a decade-old acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp wiped out key competitors in the social media space. The FTC aims to either restructure Meta or force it to divest those platforms.
Amazon, too, came under fire after the FTC sued the e-commerce giant in 2023. Amazon stock dropped 17.4% within a month of the lawsuit, even amid a strong overall market, shaking investor confidence.
Now, with markets more volatile than ever, legal crackdowns on dominant tech firms could potentially drive away investor capital, even from companies traditionally seen as stable bets. Investors seeking to navigate this uncertainty can use a stock screener to identify companies that are better positioned in this shifting landscape.
While the new U.S. administration tries to strike a balance between the nation’s prosperity and pro-business deregulation, its efforts are limited by the decentralized governance of administrative agencies, independent courts, and public opinion — the foundation of the country’s long-term stability.
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