Google Ad Business Spared Breakup, Must Comply with New Rules

A US federal judge has rejected the government's bid to break up Google's digital advertising business. In a court order, Judge Leonie Brinkema opted instead for a set of rules governing how Google must operate in the ad market.

The decision is the second time this year that a federal judge has declined to dismantle a piece of Google's business, following a similar ruling in a separate monopoly case over online search last year.

The government had sought to force Google to sell its ad auction site AdX and open-source critical auction technology. However, Google argued that splitting up the service would be technically unfeasible and harm publishers, advertisers, and consumers.