Expedia and Trivago have been complaining about Google’s monopoly in online marketing for a long time. The decision of a federal court on Thursday that Google engaged in anticompetitive conduct to gain monopoly control over online advertising may not have addressed their concerns directly, but it may change the dynamic.
Google’s dominance over online travel advertising has been criticized mainly for two reasons: Google gives more prominence to their own travel businesses (such as Google Hotels) than to other businesses and Google eliminates organic links to favor sponsored ads.
Booking.com and other travel advertisers have been heavily leveraging social media platforms.
