Google advertising monopoly breach evens media industry playing field

A US judge has determined that Google has an illegal domination over markets for publisher ad servers and ad networks that sit between buyers and sellers. (Image: Supplied)

Jane Ormsby

Thu, 24 Apr 2025

Most media publishers and ad tech vendors across New Zealand cheered when Google was found guilty of illegally building and maintaining a monopoly in certain online advertising markets, hopeful it would help level the playing field for the media industry dominated by big tech.The US$1.8 trillion (NZ$3t) company owned by Alphabet Inc is now faced with possibly breaking up its digital empire, something that could shift the balance of power online to other media players.Advertising revenueUS District Judge Leonie Brinkema determined that the tech...

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