Google's Ad-Tech Heft Is Easier to Fix Than Its Search Monopoly

Its antitrust setbacks will hurt it but need not threaten its future

- DAVE LEE

Targeted advertising is the business model that created much of the modern internet, and no company has benefitted more than Google. Last week in the US, a district court judge handed down a ruling that threatens to dismantle part of that money-printing machine. Finally, there's a Big Tech antitrust case with an obvious and effective remedy.

Of course, this decision will set off a costly and complex round of appeals that could take years and may walk back some of the judge's conclusions. Still, as it stands now, it's a significant blow to Google's business, one that comes on the heels of losing another blockbuster antitrust trial last year.

In that first case, the US Justice Department convinced a judge that Alphabet's unit unfairly showered billions of dollars on companies like Apple to remain the default search engine on browsers and other important parts of digital real estate.

The most recent case dealt with how Google made money through advertising. Google has a tool that lets publishers sell ad space on their sites and a system for auctioning that space. The creepily specific ads users see as they browse the web have been part of a rapid-fire automated bidding war—you might call it one of Google's most significant innovations. You can now also call it an illegal monopoly.