Judge signals hesitancy to divest Google’s ad tech business 

ALEXANDRIA, VA. (CN) –Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice took one last shot Friday at convincing a federal judge to divest Google of its lucrative ad-tech arm.

DOJ attorney Matthew Huppert said the goal of the 2023 antitrust case is to restore competition in ad tech markets dominated by Google. During final arguments on remedies, he said divestiture is essential. “Google will not have the opportunity to monopolize these markets again.”

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema quickly expressed doubts. “It’s unlikely Google will not take an appeal,” the Bill Clinton appointee said, noting that this could push back implementation of any order calling for the sale of the business.

In the interim, the ad tech landscape is shifting fast as artificial intelligence gains prominence and rival companies prepare to seek damages based on the court’s ruling.

 “Time is of the essence,” Brinkema observed.

Brinkema has presided over both trials in the government’s monopoly case against Google. The first, held in September 2024, led to an April order finding that Google’s conduct “substantially harmed Google’s publisher customers, the competitive process, and, ultimately, consumers of information on the open web.”

The second trial — the remedies phase — took place in September, with the DOJ and Google submitting competing proposals.

Google opposes divestiture and instead urges that behavioral remedies will restore market competition. For example, Google proposes giving rivals equal access to AdX real-time bids – a programmatic advertising process. Google would also assist publishers in switching away from its ad server platform.

The proposals are affirmative and forward-looking, argued Karen Dunn, Google’s lead attorney. “Lobbing a grenade like divestiture makes no sense,” she said.

Witnesses called to testify at the second trial admitted that Google’s remedies would restore competition, she argued. 

Google is going to be accountable. “We expect enforcement from this court,” Dunn said.     

But Google’s monopoly developed as the result of unlawful actions, countered Julia Tarver Wood, senior litigation counsel of the DOJ’s antitrust division. 

The DOJ's legal team has sought the divestiture of AdX and the open-sourcing of DFP’s Final Auction Logic, an algorithm used to determine how ads are placed.  

Illegally established monopolies should be eliminated, Wood argued.

But Brinkema again interrupted, apparently skeptical.  

“You haven’t identified a potential buyer,” the judge noted, referring to the possible sale of AdX.

In court briefs, DOJ lawyers argue that structural change alone will restore competition to the market. “Only structural changes will terminate Google’s monopolies and deny it the fruits of its unlawful conduct. Only structural relief will give market participants confidence that fair competition is the new order of the day. And only structural relief will permit natural market forces to shape competition moving forward.”

Brinkema took the matter under advisement.