Google returned to federal court on Monday to face a new antitrust challenge, with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) urging a judge to order the breakup of the company’s advertising technology operations. The case marks the second time this year that the government has sought to dismantle parts of the California-based tech giant’s business empire.
This trial zeroes in on Google’s ad technology “stack,” the suite of tools that enables website publishers to sell advertising space and allows advertisers to buy those slots. Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema previously ruled that Google illegally maintained monopoly power in this market, a decision that paved the way for the current remedy phase.
The DOJ is pressing for sweeping structural changes, including forcing Google to spin off its publisher-side and exchange operations. It is also requesting that, once divestitures are complete, Google be prohibited from running an ad exchange for at least a decade.
Google, however, argues that such measures are excessive and impractical. “We’ve said from the start that DOJ’s case misunderstands how digital advertising works and ignores how the landscape has dramatically evolved, with increasing competition and new entrants,” said Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs. The company maintains that a forced breakup would hurt the broader market, particularly small and mid-sized businesses that rely on its advertising services.
The trial is expected to last about a week, with closing arguments scheduled for later this year. Judge Brinkema has signaled that she will weigh the remedies against the backdrop of another recent DOJ case against Google. Earlier this month, a different judge rejected the government’s push to force Google to divest its Chrome browser in a separate monopoly case focused on online search. Instead, the court ordered Google to share certain data with rivals, a ruling widely viewed as a victory for the company.
Despite the legal pressures, shares of Google’s parent company Alphabet have risen more than 20 percent since that decision, reflecting investor optimism about the company’s resilience against regulatory threats.
Google also faces international scrutiny. Earlier this month, the European Commission fined the company €2.95 billion ($3.47 billion) over its control of the ad tech market. While Brussels required behavioral changes, critics argued the EU’s remedies were softer than expected, as regulators had previously signaled that structural divestitures might be necessary.
The DOJ’s latest push forms part of a broader bipartisan effort in Washington to rein in the power of major technology firms. In total, the US government is pursuing five antitrust cases against some of the world’s largest digital companies, a campaign that could reshape the tech industry’s business models for years to come.
