Google to Appeal Court Ruling on Ad Tech Monopoly Findings

Alphabet’s Google said on December 20, 2025 that it would appeal a U.S. District Court ruling that found the company liable for monopolizing markets for publisher ad servers and ad exchanges, the core components of the so called ad tech stack. The announcement targets the liability finding entered after a 15 day trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in September 2024, even as litigation over remedies and other claims continues.

The case was brought by the Department of Justice, joined by several state attorneys general and the Commonwealth of Virginia. The complaint, filed in January 2023, alleged that Google had used its scale and control over advertising technologies to limit competition, harm publishers and distort how ads are bought and sold across the open web. In a post decision release the Antitrust Division said the court “prevailed” in its second monopolization case against Google.

Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the Antitrust Division characterized the ruling in strong terms, calling Google “a monopolist” that “has abused its monopoly power,” and asserting that Google’s conduct “allowed them to censor and even deplatform American voices” and “destroyed and hid information that exposed its illegal conduct.” Those statements form part of the government’s framing of the decision and its harms to publishers and the competitive process.

Google’s notice of appeal isolates the liability finding for publisher ad servers and ad exchanges. The company did not concede other aspects of the litigation, and courts will still need to resolve remedies and lingering claims that raise complex questions about market definitions and conduct. Legal experts say appeals in cases of this complexity can extend for many years and travel through multiple appellate courts before reaching a final resolution.

The appeal comes amid a patchwork of related antitrust litigation confronting Google. In the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Judge Amit Mehta issued a mixed decision finding that Google maintained monopoly power in general search services and general text advertising through exclusive distribution agreements that made Google the default search engine. In that case the court adopted a careful remedies approach on September 2, 2025, declining immediate divestitures of the Chrome browser and the Android operating system but imposing behavioral measures. The Department of Justice has signaled it is reviewing the remedies order and may pursue further appeals.

A separate multidistrict litigation has consolidated claims from developers, consumers and states that overlap with those federal suits. In related litigation a jury found for Epic Games in December 2023 on claims involving Android app distribution and in app billing services, a verdict that underscored the breadth of competition questions facing Google across its businesses.

The matters implicate federal law including Section 2 of the Sherman Act, as well as state statutes such as California’s Cartwright Act and Unfair Competition Law. For publishers, advertisers and consumers, the immediate effect will be limited while appellate courts consider what liability and remedies should mean in practice. The presence of emergent competitive pressures, including new generative AI driven products, was noted by the courts and may influence the shape of any final remedies.