Google Avoids Breakup of Dominant Ad Tech Business

A federal judge on Wednesday rejected the Justice Department’s request to dismantle Google’s online advertising business, marking the second time the company has fended off the threat of divestiture after being found to have illegally maintained a monopoly.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema’s order follows her ruling last year that Google illegally monopolized the sophisticated online-auction technology that decides which ads appear on websites. The Justice Department argued that making Google sell off its ad exchange was the only way to curb its dominance and open the market to new competition.

Brinkema disagreed, instead opting for a lighter-touch approach. She adopted other proposals that would curb Google’s ability to control how publishers use its technology.

The Justice Department filed the ad-tech lawsuit in January 2023, taking aim at Google’s strategies for maintaining its dominant position in the online advertising market.

The judge’s full opinion was sealed temporarily to give the parties time to redact any confidential business information. She had voiced concern during the trial about the practicality of a breakup, saying it would take years because Google would appeal her ruling. She also expressed uneasiness with not knowing who would buy Google’s ad exchange and operate it in the future.

Brinkema suggested at the time it would be more efficient to order Google to stop the anticompetitive conduct she found to be illegal after a 2024 trial.

Judges’ worries about breaking up companies have haunted the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission since antitrust enforcers escalated a legal campaign six years ago to crack down on big tech firms. In two earlier cases, courts found that enforcers’ allegations were effectively out of date by the time they went to trial.

In the Justice Department’s first antitrust case against Google, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed that some of Google’s tactics for dominating online search were illegal. But he declined to order sweeping changes to its business because he believed consumers’ habits would change as artificial intelligence disrupts traditional search engines.

Facebook-owner Meta avoided the FTC’s breakup threat last year when a court ruled that enforcers misjudged its control over the social-media market. The FTC alleged in 2020 that Meta illegally built a monopoly in social networking, but the court said the rise of TikTok neutralized the agency’s theory.

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