Tech titans on trial: Amazon and Google square off with the US government in separate cases

• Amazon and Google are facing separate court battles with US regulators.
• The FTC has accused Amazon of tricking customers into enrolling in Amazon Prime.
• The DOJ is seeking a breakup of Google’s adtech business after a judge’s monopoly ruling.

Amazon and Google are in the hot seat.

Both of the multitrillion-dollar companies are facing off on Monday with US government regulators in separate court battles that highlight Washington’s intensified scrutiny of Big Tech.

In a Virginia federal court, Google is squaring off with the Department of Justice over potential fixes to its digital advertising business after a judge found the tech behemoth holds an illegal monopoly in certain online adtech markets.

On the other side of the country, Amazon is on trial in a Seattle federal court over the Federal Trade Commission’s accusations that the e-commerce giant “knowingly duped” millions of consumers into Amazon Prime subscriptions.

The FTC’s case against Amazon

The FTC’s lawsuit, filed in 2023, stemmed from a Business Insider investigation that found Amazon was internally aware its users found the Prime cancellation process confusing, but its executives shelved proposals to fix it.

Jury selection in the FTC v. Amazon trial begins on Monday, and opening arguments are scheduled to start on Tuesday.

According to the FTC lawsuit, Amazon used deceptive user interface designs to fool users into getting and renewing their Amazon Prime subscriptions.

The manipulative design elements violated the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, which was passed in 2010 to ensure online consumers have a clear understanding of what they pay for and do not face recurring charges without their consent, according to the government agency.

Up until the FTC filed its lawsuit, Amazon internally named its Prime cancellation process after a long, ancient Greek poem, the agency said.

“Fittingly, Amazon named that process ‘Iliad,’ which refers to Homer’s epic about the long, arduous Trojan War,” the FTC wrote in one filing. “Amazon designed the Iliad cancellation process (“Iliad Flow”) to be labyrinthine.”

Amazon has argued that so many people subscribe to Prime — about 3 in 4 Americans use it — simply because they value what it offers.

The case carries high stakes for Amazon, as well as for executives. Ahead of the trial, US District Judge John H. Chun ruled that two executives who oversaw the Prime cancellation process would be personally liable if the jury sides with the FTC.

Chun is also overseeing a separate high-profile antitrust case that the FTC — along with over a dozen states — brought against Amazon. That case, which accuses the company of being a monopoly that unfairly uses its platform to squeeze third-party sellers, is scheduled to go to trial in October 2026.

Representatives for the FTC declined to comment on the case.

An Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement, “The bottom line is that neither Amazon nor the individual defendants did anything wrong — we remain confident that the facts will show these executives acted properly and we always put customers first.”

DOJ wants to again force a Google breakup

Earlier this year, Judge Leonie Brinkema of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that Google maintains a digital ad market monopoly following a weekslong landmark trial in 2024.

The DOJ and 17 state attorneys general had brought an antitrust lawsuit against Google, arguing that the company used acquisitions and anticompetitive ad auction tactics to build an illegal monopoly of the digital ad market.

The judge said in a 115-page ruling that the DOJ and the states proved Google “willfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts to acquire and maintain monopoly power in the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets for open-web display advertising.”

“For over a decade, Google has tied its publisher ad server and ad exchange together through contractual policies and technological integration, which enabled the company to establish and protect its monopoly power in these two markets,” Brinkema wrote.

Now Google and the DOJ are back in court, beginning Monday, for the remedies phase of the trial, which is expected to last up to three weeks.

Brinkema could ultimately force a breakup of Google’s adtech business, and that’s exactly what the DOJ is after.

As part of its proposed fixes, the DOJ wants the judge to force the company to sell off its Google Ad Manager, a tool used by publishers and advertisers to buy and sell digital ads.

Google has vowed to appeal the judge’s monopoly ruling.

“DOJ’s proposed changes go far beyond the Court’s liability decision and the law, and risk harming businesses across the country,” Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president for regulatory affairs, said in a blog post ahead of the remedies trial.

“Breaking apart integrated tools would make it harder for publishers to monetize their content and more expensive for advertisers to reach new customers, disproportionately hurting the small businesses who choose to use Google’s tools to grow,” Mulholland wrote.

Representatives for Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday, nor did the DOJ.

Earlier this month, a Washington, DC federal judge spared Google from a breakup after he ruled the company’s online search business is a monopoly.

Google has said it will also appeal that ruling.

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