(Vmeetsolutions News) — Alphabet Inc.’s Google should be forced to sell off two of its businesses that help websites buy, sell and serve online advertising after a judge found the company illegally monopolized those markets, the Justice Department said.
The company should be ordered to immediately sell off its advertising exchange, AdX, followed by a “phased” divestiture of the service that helps websites sell display advertising, known as a publisher ad server,
the agency said in a court filing late Monday
.
A “comprehensive set of remedies — including divestiture of Google’s unlawfully obtained monopolies and the products that were the principal instruments of Google’s illegal scheme — is necessary to terminate Google’s monopolies,” the agency said in its filing.
Google did not provide an instant response regarding the DOJ’s suggestion.
its own filing
On late Monday, Google suggested enabling its advertising exchange to function smoothly with competing technologies and setting up an overseer to guarantee adherence for the upcoming three years. According to the firm, this plan aims to address any potential issues without needing a divesture, which they state wouldn’t be applicable in such cases.
The Justice Department’s petition wasn’t unexpected; the agency had mentioned since 2023, following its initial lawsuit against Google for monopolization, that it aimed to pursue the divestiture of the company’s assets.
Separately, the Justice Department is seeking to force the Alphabet unit to divest its popular Chrome web browser in another case over the company’s illegal monopolization of online search.
An ad server helps web publishers manage their advertising, acting as the brain for the website by keeping track of the minimum bids a publisher is willing to accept, what has been sold and for how much. Ad exchanges control the auctions that match website publishers with advertisers; Google operates the largest exchange.
Antitrust enforcers alleged that Google gave special access and privileges to its own ad products to encourage both advertisers and websites to spend only through its services.
US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, has scheduled a hearing for September to hear arguments from the Justice Department and Google on the proposed remedy. Last month, Brinkema
ruled that Google violated antitrust law
In the market for advertising exchanges and tools utilized by websites to manage and sell advertisement space, referred to as ad servers.
(Updated content including specifics from the Google submission starting in the fourth paragraph.)
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