US government to court: Not breaking Google’s ad tech business is ‘frankly, too dangerous’
The US Justice Department have asked a federal judge to break up Google’s advertising technology business, marking the second government request within a year that could fundamentally reshape the $2 trillion giant. During a hearing in Virginia, DOJ lawyers outlined plans to force Google to divest key components of its online advertising system following Judge Leonie M. Brinkema’s April ruling that Google illegally monopolized portions of the digital advertising market.
“To leave Google with 90 percent of publishers beholden to them is, frankly, too dangerous,” said Julia Tarver Wood, the government’s lead attorney in the case. The hearing established September 22 as the date when both parties will present detailed arguments about remedies.
Government targets Google’s publisher and ad exchange tools
The Justice Department’s proposal specifically targets Google’s ad exchange—the technology connecting buyers and sellers of online ad space—along with tools used by website publishers to sell advertising inventory. The government plan would initially make Google’s auction code available to publishers and other ad tech companies, followed by requiring Google to fully divest publisher tools that handle functions like record keeping.
This latest action follows a separate antitrust case in Washington where the DOJ is seeking to force Google to sell its popular Chrome browser to address monopolistic behavior in the search market. If both requests are granted, it would represent the most significant government-mandated corporate restructuring since AT&T’s breakup in the 1980s.
Google claims breakup “impossible” without serious consequences
Google’s defense team strongly opposed the breakup proposal, arguing it fails to comply with legal precedent and would create significant problems. Karen Dunn, Google’s lead attorney, called the plan “very likely completely impossible” without causing serious problems, noting few potential buyers exist for the technology besides “enormous tech companies.”
Google instead proposed changing certain business practices and opening its ad auction bidding system in ways that would benefit publishers, while arguing that divesting these technologies would eliminate important security and privacy protections the company currently provides.
Judge Brinkema ruled last month that Google had illegally monopolized both publisher tools and ad exchange software, though she dismissed claims related to advertiser tools. The business in question represents only a portion of Google’s massive online advertising revenue, which funds its free services like Maps, Gmail, and search.
