September 16, 2024
2:33 PM ET

Google on Trial: Ads, Algorithms, and Antitrust – Week 1 Breakdown

Week one.

Christina Maas

Day 1

If you thought Google was the benevolent search engine that just happens to know everything about you—well, congratulations, you’ve been living under a rock. Or maybe you just really enjoy getting ads for the very thing you talked about ten minutes ago. Welcome to Day 1 of Google’s antitrust trial, where the Justice Department decided it was time to air the dirty laundry of a company that’s turned the internet into its personal piggy bank.

The Government’s Opening Gambit: Monopoly 101

The Justice Department, with Julia Tarver Wood as its lead voice, opened the trial by painting a picture we’ve all grown used to: Google as the big, bad wolf of the ad tech world.

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