Two federal courts have found that Google violated antitrust law in two distinct ways.
First, Google used a web of exclusionary distribution agreements with mobile device manufacturers, browser developers, and wireless carriers. The agreements secured default placement of its “Google” search engine on devices delivered to users and ensured that competing search engines were not preloaded on the same devices, which suppressed competition in the market for search advertising. United States et al. v. Google LLC, 747 F. Supp. 3d 1 (D.D.C. 2024).
Second, Google unlawfully combined its display ad-servers, ad-exchange, and ad-bidding tools and imposed minimum bid thresholds that suppressed competition in the market for open-web display advertising. United States v. Google LLC, 778 F. Supp. 3d 797 (E.D. Va. 2025).
Together, Google’s anticompetitive conduct was found to have allowed it to artificially increase the prices advertisers paid for digital advertising.
