US judge questions DOJ on timing for Google's ad tech breakup as Google may appeal, delaying enforcement of antitrust ruling.
Judge Leonie Brinkema reviews DOJ proposal to break up Google’s ad tech empire amid antitrust concerns (Photo: File)
VIRGINIA: The U.S. judge considering whether to order a breakup of Google's advertising technology business asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday how quickly such a remedy would take effect, saying, "time is of the essence".
Google has so far come away largely unscathed from a bipartisan government legal crackdown on the dominance of Big Tech, a push that began during the first term of President Donald Trump. But that could change, depending on what U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, decides in the DOJ's case over Google's ad tech.
At closing arguments in the case on Friday, the judge brought up the fact that Google will seek to appeal the case, a move that would likely push any forced sale years down the road. "The kind of request you are making most likely would not be as easily enforceable while an appeal is pending," the judge said.
Brinkema ruled in April that Google holds two illegal ad tech monopolies, and is now considering what the company must do to restore competition.
Google is "in an impossible situation and very likely to appeal that ruling," Brinkema said, given the fact that publishers and rival ad tech companies are relying on the ruling to seek damages in several new lawsuits.
The DOJ and a coalition of states have asked the judge to make Google sell its ad exchange, AdX, where online publishers pay Google a 20% fee to sell ads in auctions that happen instantly when users load websites. DOJ attorney Matthew Huppert argued on Friday that nothing short of a forced sale would bring "a brighter, more competitive future for the open web".
