Business Rundown: Too Big? Google’s Latest Breakup Battle

For years, the tech industry has complained that Google’s stranglehold on the digital advertising market is illegal.

This past spring, some validation for those companies as U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled the Alphabet-owned company’s digital advertising technology is an illegal monopoly.

Today, the remedies phase of the Department of Justice’s antitrust case begins, and Google will argue it should not be forced to sell a part of its online advertising business.

The DOJ’s case against Google’s ad tech is the latest effort to rein in tech, they say, that has gotten too big. earlier this year, a court found Google’s search business is also an illegal monopoly, but decided Google will not have to sell the Chrome browser.

As the latest courtroom fight between the government and Google kicks off today, we ask what should happen to Google’s ad tech business, and what impact could a breakup have on other big tech companies?

Patrick Hedger, the Director of Policy at NetChoice, discusses the government’s case against Google, what remedies we may expect, and why he says the government antitrust enforcers can be out of touch with the realities of the business world and what is best for consumers.