Overview
- U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema heard final arguments in Alexandria after an 11-day remedies trial following her April finding that Google illegally monopolized parts of ad tech.
- The DOJ and several states urged an order forcing the sale of Google’s AdX exchange, where publishers pay a roughly 20% fee, and they want the option preserved to later target the publisher ad server.
- Google argued that a breakup would be technically risky for a system handling about 55 million ad requests per second and proposed transparency and conduct changes instead.
- Brinkema signaled concern about enforcing structural remedies during likely appeals and noted that behavioral measures could be implemented more quickly, according to courtroom reporting.
- Both sides expect a lengthy appeals process, with Google already planning to challenge the monopoly ruling and the government pointing to prior findings to justify stronger relief.