The US Department of Justice is proposing that Google sells two advertising products to recover competition in the ad technology field, according to a new submission. The proposal comes after a judge ruled last month that he had committed the crime of “willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly rights” in the digital advertising space.
The DOJ filing writes a note along with the need for Google to sell its ADX ad exchange product, and the “stage-by-step” sales of Publishers for DoubleClick, an ad server for website publishers. The department also wants Google to avoid running ad exchanges for the 10 years after ADX sales.
DOJ argued that Google “provided that without ADX, publishers would significantly reduce revenue.” It also accused the search giant of creating an exclusive by integrating ADX and DFP, and forcing the website to use Google’s publisher products.
The proposal also instructs Google to open an ad purchasing tool, including AdWords, to work with all third-party ad technology products, “on non-discriminatory terms with regard to bidding, matching, ad placement, or providing information, except for explicit advertising instructions.”
“This comprehensive set of remedies, including the sale of products, a primary tool in Google’s illegally obtained monopolies and Google’s illegal schemes, is necessary to end Google’s monopolies.
In response to these proposals, Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory operations, said the measure would harm publishers and advertisers.
“The DOJ has acknowledged that Google’s proposed AD Tech Remedy is fully addressing the court’s decision on liability. DOJ’s additional proposal to force the sale of advertising technology tools is far beyond the court’s findings, and will harm publishers and advertisers without legal basis,” Mulholland said in a statement.
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Google has proposed its own remedy in a separate filing. These include making real-time ADX bids available to all third-party ad servers, and keeping Google’s actions under an independent compliance observer for three years.
Google is fighting antitrust pressure from several directions. Apart from the advertising technology case, the US wants the company to sell chrome browsers after a judge determines the company is monopoly in the online search market.