US asks judge to break up Google’s ad tech business after requesting Chrome sale

After Google lost its first monopoly trial, government asks it to sell off units of its core internet ads business

Google on Friday faced a demand by the US government to break up its hugely profitable ad technology business. The request came after a judge found the tech giant was commanding an illegal monopoly for the second time in less than a year.

We have a defendant who has found ways to defy" the law, US government lawyer Julia Tarver Wood told a federal court in Virginia, as she urged the judge to dismiss Google's assurance that it would change its behavior. Leaving a recidivist monopolist" intact was not appropriate to solve the issue, she added.