In a Big Win, Google Won’t Have to Break Up Its Ad Tech Business, Court Rules
In a long-awaited decision, a federal judge said Google must change its ad tech business to address antitrust issues, but did not disclose the measures.
In a long-awaited decision, a federal judge said Google must change its ad tech business to address antitrust issues, but did not disclose the measures.
A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Google must make changes to address its advertising technology monopoly but would not need to break up that business, as the company staved off the most extreme measures to curb its power.
Judge Leonie M. Brinkema, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, issued her sealed decision after finding last year that Google broke the law to protect its dominance over the largely invisible system of technology that places ads on pages across the web. The ruling was previewed in a short order posted by the court.
The Justice Department had requested that Google sell off parts of its business, which it said was necessary to check the company’s power. But the judge declined to grant the request. She instead ordered Google to change its business practices to benefit competitors, though she did not provide specifics.
The decision ensures that Google’s power over the internet will be largely unchanged as it moves to dominate a technological era defined by artificial intelligence. Despite two federal court rulings in major government lawsuits declaring the tech giant a monopolist — the other in search — judges have not ordered significant structural changes to its $4.1 trillion business.
Instead, Google has forged ahead, gaining ground in the A.I. race against younger competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic. It has woven the technology into its products, including its signature search engine, and poured billions of dollars into the construction of data centers that power the technology.
The ruling by Judge Brinkema is another sign that the federal government’s attempts to rein in the power of the biggest tech companies have faltered. After another judge found that Google had an illegal monopoly in its search business, critics of the company panned his remedies as weak.
