The Justice Department said on Monday that Google should be broken up to address its monopoly in advertising technology, kicking off a hearing that could reshape the technology giant’s power online.
Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled in April that Google had built a monopoly over tools that websites use to sell ad space. Google also monopolized the software that connects those publishers with markets looking to buy space, she said.
On Monday, she began hearing arguments from the government and the company over how to best fix Google’s monopoly. Judge Brinkema is expected to order those measures, known as remedies, in the coming months.
In an opening statement in Monday’s hearing, the government said Judge Brinkema should force Google to sell the software that connects buyers with sellers. She should also open up the computer code that powers the tools publishers use to auction ad space.
“Nothing short of a structural divestment is sufficient to bring meaningful change,” said Julia Tarver Wood, the Justice Department’s lawyer.
Google’s lawyers countered that the government’s proposals were extreme and offered more modest changes to the company’s advertising software that would benefit publishers, among other smaller fixes.
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