The Positives and Negatives of a Potential Google Ad Tech Breakup
Brian Albrecht, Chief Economist at ICLE, is quoted in this Ad exchanger article on the positives and negatives of potential Google Ad tech breakup. Read the full story here.
For all the optimism and sense of gleeful vindication for many in the industry, any actual antitrust remedies will be a long time coming, said Brian Albrecht, chief economist at the International Center for Law & Economics.
For example, the DOJ’s search antitrust trial against Google is entering the remedies phase this week, some eight months after that monopoly case was concluded in August. This case, likewise, could be almost a year removed from finding out what remedies are even being pursued in the ad tech antitrust case, let alone a decision.
Then there would be an appeal. Google has already announced it will appeal against last week’s decision, in addition to the decision in the search antitrust trial. Those appeals can stretch for a year or more.
And Google might win a reversal.
According to Albrecht, the ruling could be vulnerable on appeal, based on recent Supreme Court precedent in antitrust cases that requires proof of harm on both sides of a two-sided marketplace.
In other words, don’t hold your breath waiting for any immediate changes.