(Reuters) – The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) proposed that Google sells its adverts and DFP advertising platforms, after a federal judge concluded that the company illegally dominates two online ad markets.
The proposed solutions, including sales, are necessary to end monopolies, and restore competition in the scholarship markets and ad servers, DOJ said in a lawsuit on Monday.
Last month, district judge Leonie Brinkema of Alexandria (Virginia), said Google responsible for “acquiring and intentionally maintaining” in these two segments. The decision was another blow to the company, as another judge considered, in 2024, that Google also held an illegal monopoly on online research.
Brinkema marked the trial date for September, after Google and DOJ presented possible solutions to the company’s domain on advertising platforms.
Google has said it supports behavioral solutions, such as providing real-time bids for competitors, but argues that prosecutors have no legal basis to force you to sell parts of your business.
“The additional DOJ proposals to force the sale of our ad tools go far beyond the conclusions of the Court, do not have legal backing and would harm editors and advertisers,” Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, said in a statement to Reuters.
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Alphabet’s shares fell almost 1.1% in the pre-market negotiations on Tuesday.
ADX, or AD Exchange, is a platform where editors can make available ads for real -time purchase by advertisers. Editors’ ad servers are platforms used by websites to store and manage digital advertising inventory.
Last year, Google took an important step in closing an antitrust investigation from the European Union by offering the sale of ADX, but European editors rejected the proposal because it considered it insufficient.
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(Reporterem with Abina Vijaryara Vijaramin, respond to independent Channi Shah)
