The witness list for the remedy phase of the Google antitrust trial is out, and it offers some clues as to what the Justice Department will seek in terms of remedies.
To refresh, Google was ruled a monopoly in April, after a trial the previous fall. Now, Judge Brinkema needs to determine what can be done to undo that monopoly. Some of the witnesses who may testify are new to the Alexandria, Virginia, courthouse guest list, while others will be repeat guests when the remedy phase starts on Monday, September 22.
The witnesses include a mix of representatives from companies harmed by Google’s monopolistic practices. There will be publishers, SSPs and ad servers speaking at the trial, along with The Trade Desk, Google’s main buy-side rival.
On this week’s podcast, we go through the lineup of witnesses and explore Google’s code-named projects listed as exhibits, the old (Project Poirot) and the new (Project Grumpy).
The possible remedies span structural changes (e.g., spinning off its DFP ad server or AdX exchange) and behavioral changes (e.g., Google promising not to favor itself). While Google will argue for weaker behavioral changes, the DOJ will seek stronger structural changes.
One of the biggest changes would be a spinoff or forced divestiture of parts of Google’s ad tech business. While possible, smaller changes, such as giving rivals real-time access to bidding data from AdX, opening up DFP to outsiders, the open-sourcing of Google’s AdX auction logic or measures that would increase data transparency for publishers and other SSPs, could be easier to push through.
“The DOJ is asking for a lot,” Managing Editor Allison Schiff says. “It’s the kitchen sink. But why not?”
