Damian Rollison, Senior Director of Market Insights at SOCI, has characterized 2025 as a pivotal moment for tech giants Google and Meta.
His statement came in response to a recent ruling that found Google guilty of illegally monopolizing major segments of the online advertising market, paving the way for potential antitrust-driven breakups of its ad tech division.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia concluded that Google’s practices harmed its publishing partners, undermined fair competition, and negatively impacted consumers accessing content on the open web.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi emphasized that the Department of Justice remains committed to defending Americans against “encroachments on free speech and free markets by tech companies.”
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Rollison pointed out that this marks the second major antitrust ruling against Google—one targeting Chrome and other Alphabet entities, and now this latest verdict focused on its advertising business. He added that 2025 could prove decisive for the company, especially if it’s forced to separate from its ad operations, which constitute its primary revenue stream.
As with Meta’s similar antitrust battle, we see that big tech is facing a reckoning this year as regulators get serious about its outsized influence in our economy and our cultural life, Rollison said in a statement.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has charged Meta with maintaining an unlawful monopoly through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, accusing the company of employing a “buy or bury” strategy to eliminate competition.
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However, Rollison cautioned that forced divestitures are blunt tools that may fail to deliver the intended outcomes. He encouraged U.S. regulators to consider adopting more nuanced approaches, drawing inspiration from regulatory frameworks used in Europe.
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Better regulation of the kind that is more highly developed in Europe, that protects consumer rights and increases the responsibility of big tech over its content and influence, would be felt by consumers as having a more meaningful impact, Rollison added.
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