Published on: April 20, 2025 / update from: April 20, 2025 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein
Google and Meta in the crossfire of the US competition keeper: Antitrust procedure despite the Trump nearby-Image: Xpert.digital
Google & Meta: Political Deals vs. Antivellrecht - the end of the advertising monopoly?
Fight for digital power: Google, Meta and the US competition keeper
The focus of current developments is a pioneering judgment against the internet giant Google, which according to the US judiciary has built an illegal monopoly in the area of online advertising. At the same time, there is a potentially existential procedure against meta, in which even the group has been smashing. Although both technology companies are intensively promoting the favor of US President Donald Trump-with donations for his inauguration, direct conversations and political concessions-these efforts have so far seem to bear little fruit. The cartel procedures that were still promoted under the bid administration continue to run to the White House despite Trump's return. This could have far -reaching consequences for the business models of both internet giants and fundamentally change the digital landscape.
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The judgment against Google: a milestone in the fight against tech monopolis
The US district court for the eastern district of Virginia has made a clear judgment under judge Leonie Brinkema: Google built an illegal monopoly when placing online ads. In her 115-page reasoning, the judge determines that the group not only has the opportunity to take the opportunity to take part in the competition ", but also hurt website operators-especially publishers-as well as consumers of information and news online.
The judge came to the conclusion that Google achieved a dominant position among ad servers and ad-exchange due to unfair competition. According to the court, this monopoly has systematically built up and consolidated this monopoly position for more than ten years. With a market share of over 90 percent of the global market for internet advertising, there is little doubt about Google's dominant position.
Google's competitive practices
The court is particularly critical of how Google linked different services. The judge complained in particular that Google coupled the marketplaces for the distribution and acquisition of network advertising. With this bundling of products, Google has made it significantly more difficult to switch to competitive offers.
A central point of criticism is the connection between Google's ad-Exchange, which is part of the so-called Google ad-manager, and the advertising servers who had acquired Google by buying the advertising marketer DoubleClick. According to the court, this bundling prevents the use of competing products. "By forced to use Google's publishing customers to use a product that they would otherwise not have used by difficult for competing advertising servers to compete at the performance level, and by significantly reducing the market share of the competitors, this bond has significant competitive effects on the market for open web display advertising," judge Brinkema wrote in her justification.
Consequences for Google and the reaction of the company
The judgment is a difficult blow for Google, even if the concrete consequences are only determined in another procedure. It is possible that Google is forced to repeal parts of its advertising business. In conversation, the spin -off of the platform AD Manager and possibly other products. In an extreme scenario, even a breakdown of the advertising business with a separation of double -click and ad reports could be required.
However, Google considers the procedure as “half won”. The lawyers of the US Ministry of Justice were unable to convince the judge that the takeover of the DoubleClick (2008) and Adral (2011) advertising platforms were hostile to competition. The judge emphasized that these acquisitions had helped Google to strengthen the monopoly position in adjacent business areas, but in itself they did not prove that Google had achieved a monopoly through exclusion.
Google's defense strategy
Google has already announced that it will appeal to the judgment. The group rejects the allegations and argues that advertising customers have many options and would choose Google because the group's tools are “simple, cheap and efficient”. The Google Manager Lee-Anne Mulholland, responsible for lobbying to regulatory authorities, confirmed this position and rejected the accusation of a monopoly.
It is already the second judgment within a few months that could have a direct impact on Google's market position. Last year, a US Court of Google had already condemned exclusive contracts in the browser market. At that time it was about the market dominance of the Chrome Internet browser, in which Google paid billions of billions for the standard pre-installation on devices.
Meta in the sights of the US competition keeper: the ongoing process
In parallel to Google, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is also the focus of the US competition keepers. The US trade authority FTC has a procedure against META that was initiated in December 2020, at the end of Trump's first term.
The accusation: Meta created an illegal monopoly in the field of social networks and messaging services for around $ 1 billion (2014) for around $ 1 and WhatsApp (2014). The FTC claims that Facebook had an average of 80 percent on smartphones and 98 percent on the PC from 2016 to 2020 for active users, although the proportion has never dropped less than 70 percent.
Important breakdown of Meta
A lot is at stake for Meta. A reversal of purchases would potentially devastating for the group. Instagram is now a central sales bearer for Meta and in 2024 already accounted for 48 percent of the group's advertising revenue-around $ 32 billion. In the current year 2025, it is expected that Instagram will first reach half of the advertising revenues for Meta, with further increasing trend.
The FTC argues that the quality of METAS has subsided apps with weakened competition. Meta, on the other hand, claims that the takeovers were advantageous for the users and that the competition had strengthened the competition. The group rejects the allegations of monopoly formation and refers, among other things, to the hard competition with other platforms such as Tiktok.
Strategic approaches to Trump: The efforts of Google and Meta
In view of the impending competitive consequences, both Google and META have undertaken intensive efforts to make a good job with the Trump administration. The technology groups apparently rely on a strategy of political rapprochement in order to mitigate possible negative effects of ongoing antitrust processes.
The Trump offensive of Meta
The efforts of meta boss Mark Zuckerberg are particularly striking. In the past few months, Zuckerberg has visibly approached Trump. He was prominently represented at Trump's inauguration and meta donated about one million dollars for the event. In addition, Meta has loosened the rules for content on its platforms and hired the factual test in the USA.
A particularly clear sign of the rapprochement was the agreement between Meta and Trump on a payment of $ 25 million as a compensation for the blocking of his accounts after the storming of the Capitol in January 2021. From this sum, $ 22 million should flow into the Fund for Trump's presidential library.
The digital expert Markus Beckedahl described Zuckerberg's approach as a “180-degree return turn” and “Kniefall from Mark Zuckerberg ahead of Donald Trump and his upcoming administration”. Beckedahl emphasized that Meta fulfills “almost all wishes and demands of the Republican Party”, such as the abolition of facts and the enforcement of “radical freedom of speech on all platforms”.
According to US media reports, Zuckerberg is said to have even appealed directly to Trump to move the FTC to an agreement in the current antitrust process. In March Meta initially offered the FTC $ 450 million to end the procedure with a comparison, while the authority demanded $ 30 billion.
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Google's diplomatic efforts
Google has also followed a similar strategy. The group also donated one million dollars to Trump's inauguration, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai was present at the ceremony. The efforts of the technology groups around Trump's favor even go so far that they push it together against which, from their point of view, “overzealous” EU regulation.
Trump's influence on US competition authorities and international regulation
Despite all of these efforts, Google and Meta have not yet received any substantial help from Trump. The cartel procedures that started under the bid administration continue to run, and Trump has so far not taken any specific steps to stop or mitigate them.
Remodeling the FTC and its effects
However, Trump has already expanded his influence on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by releasing the two democratic commissioners and striving for full control over the authority. This redesign could have long -term effects on the enforcement of competitive rules in the United States.
The FTC was traditionally designed as an independent, cross -party authority. Trump's interventions could fundamentally change the working method of the Commission. Nevertheless, the current procedures against Google and Meta demonstrate remarkable stamina of the US competition keepers. The procedures were already initiated during Trump's first term, continued under bidges and could now - again under Trump.
Pressure on EU regulation
Another aspect is Trump's possible influence on the international regulation of technology groups, especially in the EU. Apple, Meta and Google urge Trump, against which, from their point of view, “overzealous” approach of the EU. The hope of the tech giants: Trump could put pressure on the EU Commission in order to loosen the regulation or to reverse.
In fact, there are reports that some officials and diplomats have considerable respect for the future US president in Brussels. This could cause the EU Commission to re-evaluate its investigations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and possibly reduce the scope.
Tech giants under pressure despite political maneuvers
The current developments show that even the largest technology groups in the world are not immune to competitive consequences - not even through political rapprochement with mighty decision -makers like Donald Trump. The judgment against Google marks an important milestone in the fight against monopoly formation in digital space and could have far -reaching consequences for the entire technology industry.
For Google, there may be a breakdown or restructuring of its advertising savings, while Meta is confronted with the potential spin -off of its most valuable acquisitions - Instagram and WhatsApp. Both companies strive intensively for the favor of the Trump administration, but so far without striking success.
The coming months will show whether the political efforts of the tech giants are bearing fruits or whether the US competition authorities are continuing their course. Regardless of this, the current procedures mark a turning point in the regulation of digital markets and could change the distribution of power on the Internet sustainably.
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