Google and Justice Department Spar Over Remedies in Ad Market Antitrust Case

Google and the Justice Department will reportedly argue in a courtroom for the next two weeks over whether Google should be forced to sell its ad exchange, AdX, to restore competition in the online display advertising market.

This two-week remedy trial follows a court decision that Google illegally monopolized ad technology markets, Bloomberg reported Monday (Sept. 22).

The remedy trial is also being held weeks after a judge in another, separate case ruled that Google did not have to sell its Chrome browser, as the U.S. government had requested after the court found that the company illegally monopolized the online search market, according to the report.

On Monday, in the ad technology case, a Justice Department lawyer argued that Google is a “recidivist monopolist” and that forcing the company to sell AdX is the best way to restore competition, the report said.

A Google lawyer countered that the Justice Department’s proposal is “radical and reckless” and that the company has offered a better solution.

It was reported Sept. 15 that a Google lawyer told the court that the company had explored a potential divestiture of AdX before litigation began but that the company’s proposal is not similar to the Justice Department’s demand.

Per a statement at that earlier hearing, Google had previously suggested splitting its auction and placement services into a separate company under the Alphabet umbrella.

The court ruled April 17 that Google holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology, having violated the law to establish its dominance in the online advertising system.

The Justice Department and a group of states had sued the company, claiming that its monopoly in advertising technology helped Google charge higher prices and take a larger portion of each sale.

In the remedy trial involving the antitrust ruling in the online search market, a judge ruled earlier this month that Google could retain ownership of its browser and Android operating system, sparing it from the breakup that federal regulators had sought.

However, the ruling required the company to share certain data with competitors in order to increase fairness in online search markets and barred the company from locking in exclusive agreements with certain device manufacturers and browser developers.