Google will face a jury trial in September over accusations that the company abused its advertising dominance, a US federal judge ruled on Monday.

The lawsuit, previously filed in January 2023, accuses the Alphabet owned company of abusing its dominance in digital advertising technology, stating that the company has undermined competition by monopolising the market for digital advertising.

The government has argued that Google should be made to sell its ad manager suite, a significant source of revenue for the company.

Google has historically denied accusations of monopolisation and said that any successful lawsuit against its business would "slow innovation, raise advertising fees, and make it harder for thousands of small businesses and publishers to grow."

Despite the company’s protests, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema has set 9 September as the start date for a trial.

The Justice Department and a number of states had requested a July date for the trial in Virginia, but Brinkema said that a summer trial would pose logistical problems.

The company also faces a pair of separate trials in Texas and Washington DC. The former, set for March 2025, is a similar lawsuit on Google’s ad tech practices, while the latter is expected to hear closing arguments in May over Google’s web search dominance.

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