Judge wants to fix Google’s ad tech monopoly before it’s too late

Google and the Justice Department had their last chance to make their case before Judge Leonie Brinkema Friday before she decides whether Google needs to be broken up to remedy its ad tech monopoly.

Brinkema expects to issue her ruling next year, but understands that “time is of the essence,” as Reuters reported. While the DOJ wants the court to force Google to sell its AdX exchange, and leave open the option to force a sale of its publisher ad server, Google argued that only behavioral changes were necessary to remedy the issues the court found with its business. Brinkema previously ruled that Google held an illegal monopoly in two ad tech markets and illegally tied together two of its tools.

She was keenly aware that Google will likely appeal the case, and noted the DOJ’s remedies “most likely would not be as easily enforceable while an appeal is pending,” Reuters reported. On the other hand, she said, behavioral changes could happen quickly, The New York Times reported.

Timing was a crucial factor in another judge’s recent decision to rule against the government’s case accusing Meta of being an illegal monopolist. When the case was filed in 2020, TikTok was a far smaller rival than it was when the case went to trial earlier this year. Of course, that’s part of the reason the DOJ filed the Google ad tech case in the Eastern District of Virginia in the first place — otherwise known as the “Rocket Docket.”