Author: Desk

Alphabet’s Google illegally dominated two markets for online advertising technology, a judge ruled on Thursday, dealing another blow to the tech giant and paving the way for US antitrust prosecutors to seek a breakup of its advertising products. US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, found Google liable for “willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power” in markets for publisher ad servers and the market for ad exchanges which sit between buyers and sellers. Publisher ad servers are platforms used by websites to store and manage their ad inventory. Antitrust enforcers failed to prove a separate claim that the company had a monopoly in advertiser ad networks, she wrote. Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice president of Regulatory Affairs, said Google will appeal the ruling. “We won half of this case and we will appeal the other half,” she said, adding that the company disagrees with the decision on its publisher tools. “Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ad tech tools

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This weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is the final leg of the first “triple header” of the season. From Suzuka in Japan, to the desert of Bahrain, Formula One now pitches up on the shores of the Red Sea in Jeddah. AFP Sport looks at five talking points ahead of the fifth round of the 24-race season: Advantage McLaren Oscar Piastri put in a faultless display from pole last Sunday in Sakhir to make it three wins out of four for the British marque. That moved the cool as ice Australian to within three points of championship leader and teammate Lando Norris, who took third in Bahrain. With Max Verstappen, only sixth, and Red Bull struggling to keep tabs on the world constructors’ champions, the 2025 title could well develop into a battle between the two McLaren men. The team has always been insistent on “papaya rules”, theoretically meaning no favoritism between the pair, but that even-handed policy will be put under intense pressure if the season develops into a battle between the two gifted drivers. Looking a

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