U.S. DOJ demands Google divest most of its ad business to break monopoly

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is demanding that Google divest key parts of its advertising business — specifically, the Google Ad Manager platform and the Google AdX ad exchange.

According to the DOJ, this is the only way to eliminate what it calls Google’s “entrenched monopoly” in the digital advertising market. Google AdX is the largest platform for online ad auctions, while Ad Manager helps publishers manage and sell ad inventory.

The DOJ claims Google used the combination of these platforms to squeeze out competitors, offer artificially low prices, and limit access to alternative ad placement channels.

A court has already ruled that Google deliberately monopolized two out of three key segments of the digital ad market. The next hearing is scheduled for September 22 in a federal court in Virginia.

The DOJ is also calling on Google to grant competitors access to its real-time bidding data.