EU Google Break-up Plans Stalled by US Court Ruling

One year after fining Google's AdTech empire €2.95 billion for breaching EU rules, Brussels still hasn't made progress in breaking up the US tech giant's business.

The European Commission fined Google in September last year for favoring its own online display AdTech services and abusing its dominant position.

At that time, the Commission reaffirmed the idea that breaking up Google's AdTech business could resolve the conflict of interest at the heart of the case.

However, it also put any break-up decision on ice by asking Google to first propose a fix itself.

A US judge has now thrown up a fresh hurdle to EU action. A federal judge in Virginia ruled in a separate but similar US case that Google would not have to sell off a division of its ad business, despite finding that it had operated an illegal monopoly.

Johnny Ryan, director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties' Big Tech-focused division, said 'The signs are not good.' He believes the courts have let the American people down and innovative startups, media, and journalism will suffer as a result.