For the second time in less than a year, Google was found to have an illegal monopoly. This time, it was over online advertising, with a federal judge on Thursday ruling Google’s ad business stamped out competition and “substantially harmed” its customers.
The ruling adds to the growing federal pressure for Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to break up its business, which includes YouTube and Search, the foundations of its Silicon Valley empire.
One byproduct of a breakup, as vastly complicated as that might be, is a lower barrier to entry for competitors that in theory could help to reduce costs for advertisers.