Google Escapes Breakup as Judge Rejects DOJ Antitrust Bid

A US judge has rejected the Department of Justice's (DOJ) bid to break up Google's advertising technology business, AdX. The ruling marks the third time in recent years that a Big Tech breakup attempt by US antitrust enforcers has been unsuccessful.

US Judge Leonie Brinkema declined to order Google to sell AdX, where publishers pay a 20% fee for ads sold in auctions that happen instantly when users load websites. The judge accepted behavioural remedies instead of breaking up the business.

The DOJ had argued that Google could not be trusted to run the online advertising exchange and sought to have it broken up due to allegations that Google had willfully monopolised both publisher ad server and ad exchange markets. Prosecutors had also accused Google of unlawfully tying these products together.