A US judge has scheduled a hearing for May 2 to discuss remedies in an antitrust case involving Google.

The case centers on Google’s alleged illegal dominance in two online advertising technology markets.

The hearing will take place in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, and will explore broad remedies before narrowing down specific measures.

This follows a ruling on April 17 by US District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who found Google guilty of “willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power” in the markets for publisher ad servers and ad exchanges.

Potential remedies may include requiring Google to divest portions of its ad tech business to restore competition.

🔗 Source: Reuters

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ The long road to U.S. antitrust enforcement against Google

Judge Brinkema’s ruling represents a significant shift in U.S. antitrust enforcement after years of European regulatory leadership against Google.

The European Commission moved aggressively against Google much earlier, imposing a €2.42 billion fine in 2017 for favoring its own comparison shopping service and another €1.49 billion in 2019 for AdSense violations12.

This transatlantic gap in enforcement wasn’t accidental. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission declined to pursue a case against Google in 2013 despite staff recommendations, reflecting fundamentally different approaches to competition policy3.

American regulators have historically embraced the Chicago School’s non-interventionist approach to antitrust, while European authorities interpret anti-competitive behavior more broadly and intervene more readily3.

The DOJ’s recent successes against Google, first with Judge Mehta’s search ruling and now with Brinkema’s ad tech decision, signal that U.S. enforcement is finally catching up to Europe’s more aggressive stance after almost a decade of divergence.

2️⃣ Echoes of the Microsoft case that shaped today’s tech landscape

The Google antitrust rulings follow a pattern established by the landmark Microsoft case of the 1990s, which created space for Google’s own rise.

Microsoft’s antitrust battle over Internet Explorer bundling has direct parallels to Google’s current predicament, as both cases involve a dominant platform leveraging its power to extend control into adjacent markets4.

Recent Google developments