Google returns to Court as US pushes breakup over alleged adtech monopoly
Following a lengthy trial last year, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled in April that portions of Google’s ad technology had been manipulated in ways that made them an illegal monopoly.
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Tech giant Google will confront the US government’s latest effort to challenge its internet dominance in federal court today, as a judge considers how to curb the allegedly abusive tactics that led to parts of its digital advertising network being branded an illegal monopoly, according to a media report.
Following a lengthy trial last year, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled in April that portions of Google’s ad technology had been manipulated in ways that made them an illegal monopoly, the report added.
That decision triggered another 11-day trial earlier this fall to help Brinkema determine the appropriate remedy for Google’s anti-competitive practices.
Today’s closing arguments will give both Google and the Justice Department a final opportunity to sway Brinkema before she issues her ruling—one that will likely not arrive until next year, as reported.
Read More: Google restructures ad sales unit, cuts middle management amid AI overhaul
The Justice Department is urging Brinkema to require Google to divest parts of its online advertising business, which the company has spent nearly two decades building. Prosecutors reportedly argue that a breakup is the only way to rein in a company they described in filings as a “recidivist monopolist.”
Read More: Google fights potential ad tech breakup in U.S. antitrust trial
According to the report, this condemnation refers not only to Google’s conduct in digital advertising but also to what prosecutors described as the illegal monopoly created through its dominant search engine.
Federal prosecutors also sought a breakup in the search monopoly case, but the judge overseeing that matter rejected a proposal that would have required Google to sell its popular Chrome web browser.
